Lone Wolves Don't Last Long
by FlaminRadish
Summary: In this story Minato and Kushina never died. Kushina is still the Jinchuuriki. After Kakashi comes back from an Anbu mission poisoned he is targeted by an unknown enemy for assassination. In order to keep him safe Minato forces him to stay with him and Kushina until they are able to hunt down the assassin. {Minato/Kushina} No other pairings as of yet. Rated T just to be safe.
1. Not Just a Cold

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

 **Summary: In this story the nine tails attack never happened. Minato and Kushina are still alive, and Kushina is still the Jinchuuriki. After returning from an Anbu mission poisoned, Kakashi has been targeted for assassination by an unknown enemy who has managed to infiltrate the Hidden Leaf. To keep him safe, Minato forces Kakashi to stay with him and Kushina until they can learn who is behind the attack. {Minato/Kushina} No other pairings at the moment.**

 **Authors Note UPDATE::: Hi everyone! I decided to edit all three chapters, so hopefully they read a bit better. A huge thanks to deamon-of-light for your review! Hopefully the timeline makes a bit more sense now and some spelling errors are corrected. Thank you all and PLEASE REVIEW! It is a huge help to know what I could do better and also what I'm doing well. I want to make sure this story is as good as I can possibly make it, so if you see any errors or have any suggestions please let me know! Thank you all and I hope you enjoy.**

Lone Wolves Don't Last Long

Chapter One: Not Just a Cold

Kakashi slowly made his way down the sun-soaked street. Stagnant air draped over the village like a blanket, dead heat making each step more taxing than the last. His body couldn't seem to decide whether it was hot or cold.

The setting sun had finally relinquished some of its intensity, the temperature dropping from unbearably hot to hardly tolerable. Still, the change cooled the thin layer of sweat that coated him, sending chills up the anbu's spine.

Kakashi stifled a yawn. He was utterly exhausted. Limp arms hung like leaden weights as he lumbered stiffly towards his apartment and bed.

The Anbu had been working him mercilessly, mission after mission and each longer and more grueling than the last. It wasn't that Kakashi minded hard work. In fact, he thrived on it. It was easier to be an Anbu. A faceless automaton intent on fulfilling the will of the Leaf. On missions he was Wolf. It was easier to be Wolf. At least, it was easier when he had slept in the past seventy-two hours, unlike right now, when he had reached ninety and counting. Or at least, he thought it had been ninety hours. He wracked his brain to remember the last time he'd actually slept, and not just dozed between night watches.

 _'About…five days now?'_

Unless of course, one included the way his mind glazed over when Guy began vomiting some drawn out sappy speech about youth. He just needed to sleep. Preferably before the self-proclaimed _Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha_ managed to track him down again. He shuddered at the thought.

Ruffling a hand through his sweat-dampened hair; weary legs carried him mechanically towards home. He had nearly made it out by the skin of his nose this last mission, and not without damage. Aching fingers settled unconsciously over the throbbing slit across his thigh. He'd stitched it himself before returning to the village. Luckily Minato hadn't seemed to notice the well-concealed limp. Or if he had, decided mercifully to let it slide.

He coughed into his arm, the feeling of something sitting in his chest persisting.

"Kakashi?" Black and red eyes shot up in alarm, realizing with a start that Kushina was standing a mere five feet in front of him. Hurriedly, he closed his left eye, darkening the sharingan before it could deplete his chakra any further. Brown paper crinkled as she readjusted the small load of groceries in her arms.

 _'How did I not hear her coming?'_

"Hi, Kushina-san" He greeted, pushing the unease back into the pit of his stomach and away from his voice.

"Are you feeling all right Kakashi?" She asked, looking him up and down skeptically. Her mouth pulled to the side as she studied his face more closely.

The young Hatake shifted uncomfortably under the kunoichi's stern gaze. Blue eyes darkened contemptuously as she digested his disheveled appearance.

Scratches marred his upper arms; the rest obscured beneath long gloves. The soft material clung to his skin, coated in dust and spattered with blood, drying fluid leaving dots of rusty brown across the dark fabric. Dirt covered the soft gray of his anbu vest, giving it a faint yellow tint in the setting sun. Mud soaked the lower half of his pants, along with his mucky feet, still squishing slightly in his slowly crusting shoes. He looked terrible, Kakashi was sure. There was no need for a mirror with this level of grime. Unfortunately, that was just how it went with these kinds of missions. It was difficult to take the time for proper hygiene whilst running for one's life.

Kushina's eyebrows twitched downwards as she balanced the bag of groceries in her right arm. He said nothing, praying she would let the matter slide. He could feel his apartment drawing him in like a magnet. The promise of a hot shower and soft bed seemed almost too good to be true. Her left hand moved to rest firmly on her hip. No, she wouldn't be letting this go.

He fought the urge to just walk around her and continue on his way. Most people were familiar with Kakashi's usual level of rudeness and those who weren't, typically had enough sense of self-preservation to ignore his discourtesy. Kushina, however, was not most people. A brush-off like that could easily result in several more injuries to Kakashi's personage along with a multi-hour rant on the importance of manners towards one's superiors.

"I'm fine." He assured her, rubbing the back of his head absentmindedly, "Just a little tired."

Kushina hmm-ed, her eyes trailing critically from his face to his muddy feet.

Shivering lightly, he turned his head to release a rattling cough into his elbow.

 _'Dammit.'_

Kushina raised her eyebrow.

"I'm fine, really, just got a bit chilled on my way back from the Hokage's office."

She smiled, the raised eyebrow and searching gaze still roving over him skeptically, "Well in that case, why don't you drop by and have a cup of tea with me?"

"Well, I re-"

"We live closer, and you're shivering. Just come in for a few minutes and warm up, then you can go home, Alright?"

Kakashi sighed in defeat. Once Kushina had made up her mind, there was no changing it.

"All right. Thank you Kushina-san." He shuffled his mud-caked feet in discomfort, "Do you want me to carry that?"

"I can manage" She waved him off.

Kushina turned to walk beside him as she led the way towards her and Minato's home.

"I'm surprised you stayed at the Hokage's office for so long." She muttered, almost to herself, "Minato told me that you had gotten back sometime late this morning." The sun was beginning to sink towards the horizon, bathing the streets in a warm orange glow.

Kakashi nodded, "I had to make a couple stops on my way home." His shoulders drooped, gloved hands sinking deeper into his pockets.

 _'So the graveyard huh?'_ she thought dejectedly.

Kushina wondered if one of his "stops" had been the grocery store. The boy had been gone for more than three weeks, and she was pretty sure that if he had any food at all in that shabby little apartment of his, that it was well beyond eating.

"Well, Naruto will be happy to see you." She said brightly, "He's been talking about you nonstop since the last time you came to visit Minato."

Kakashi chuckled, suppressing another shiver, "Oh yeah?"

"He asked us for a mask for his birthday."

Kakashi laughed, regretting it as he began to cough again. His head felt lighter than before. Not enough to be dizzy but enough to know something wasn't quite right. 'I'm just tired,' He assured himself.

His feet scuffed along beside Kushina. All he wanted was just to go _home_. As generous as Kushina-san's offer was, what he really wanted was the quiet solitude of his little apartment and good nights rest.

"Here we are," She said pushing Kakashi gently towards the door. He winced slightly as his injured leg protested at the unexpected shift in weight. He attempted to hide it with a yawn, smothering the expression before Kushina could know it was there. If she thought he was injured there wouldn't be the slightest chance of him going home tonight. The last thing he wanted was to be dragged to that whitewashed, weapon-filled, hellhole that Konoha called a hospital.

Kushina slid her key into the lock and clicked it open. Warm light flooded out onto the front step as she bustled through the door, kicking her shoes off as she went. Kakashi removed his and placed them neatly to the side. Absentmindedly, he grabbed her's as well and set them beside his. She wondered if he even realized he did that. Organize everything as he walked by. Minato had that problem too.

* * *

Kushina set her bag down on the kitchen counter, watching as Kakashi made his way towards her. He looked pale and unfocused, the occasional shiver or cough creating a knot of worry in the pit of her stomach. Of course, Kakashi would never openly admit he was sick, and she was sure that spending hours in a graveyard probably didn't do much to stop the onslaught of a cold.

"Can I help with anything Kushina-san?" He asked politely, standing drowsily in the kitchen doorway.

"No, no, I don't have that much to do. You look exhausted, why don't you go lie down on the couch for a moment, and I'll let you know when the tea is ready?"

She could see the battle of wills in his eyes. He wanted so badly to lie down, just not in front of his sensei's wife and on his sensei's couch.

Kushina exhaled in exasperation, "Kakashi. Couch. Now." She said firmly, looking from him to the big lavender couch imploringly.

Kakashi sighed and trudged out of the kitchen. He moved to sit gingerly on the very edge of the plush cushions, his back ramrod straight in an awkward attempt not to disturb anything. He'd been to Minato's house before, but it always seemed wrong to relax. Like somehow he was infringing on something highly personal.

He heard Kushina snort from the kitchen as a cabinet banged shut, "For goodness sake Kakashi, this isn't a museum you know."

He gestured meaningfully towards his muddy pants.

"I'm well aware you're filthy, and I don't care. Stop perching on my couch like you're afraid to break it."

Feeling a slight blush creep under his mask, he moved to quietly lie down, allowing his head to rest against the arm. His eyes began to droop almost instantly.

* * *

Kushina began pulling out the fixings for tea. By the time she had poured two mugs, sneaking a little honey into Kakashi's, the young Anbu was already asleep. She smiled, sitting down on the coffee table and placing her mug on the coaster beside her. It amazed her that she had gotten the bull-headed Kakashi to comply thus far. She shook his shoulder gently, surprised at how warm it felt as he shivered again. His eyes blinked open blearily.

Realizing with a start that he had actually nodded off, Kakashi jerked back upright, earning himself a heavy fit of coughing. Kushina patted his back lightly as his lungs spasmed painfully against his tight chest.

"S-s-orry" He choked as the fit subsided, his own voice sounding far away in his ringing ears.

"For what? Coughing? Honestly Kakashi-kun you need to lighten up a bit, you know?" She shoved a mug into his hands, "Drink your tea."

With a flustered blush and downcast eye, he propped himself against the arm of the couch. He stared uncomfortably down at the mug in his hands, trying to decide whether or not he should ask her to look away. The room faded into dead silence.

Unable to stand the tension any longer, Kushina breathed a sigh of annoyance.

"For goodness sake Kakashi! I've seen your face before, you know, and no one else is home so just drink the damn tea!"

Grudgingly he complied, stiffly lowering his mask to take a long draft. He fought the urge to cringe at the sweet taste of honey. Kakashi always drank it plain.

Swallowing he lowered the mug to his lap, wrapping his long fingers around the warmth of the steaming liquid.

Kushina tried not to stare at the blush rising to his cheeks. It was hard to remember just how young Kakashi really was sometimes. Only eighteen and already taking on so many S ranked missions. Kushina watched as he took another sip before raising her own mug to her lips.

"Thank you Kushina-san." He said quietly. She could hear the guilt laced in his voice.

"You're more than welcome Kakashi-kun," She said gently, "I'll be right back, I think I hear Shikaku dropping off Naruto.

She stood and moved to the door, leaving Kakashi as he took another awkward sip of tea, not exactly sure what to say.

* * *

As she opened the front door, a tiny blonde boy ran clumsily inside and wrapped his chubby arms around her legs, "Ka-san!"

"Hi, honey!" She said ruffling his spiky blonde hair and looking up at Shikaku with a smile, "Thanks for watching him for me Shikaku, I'm sure he had a blast."

The man smiled, glancing back at his own son, asleep on his back, "I think they both did." he agreed re-adjusting the limp Shikamaru. A patch of drool slowly darkening the fabric on his left shoulder.

"Say thank you to Nara-san honey,"

"Thank you Nara-san!" Naruto chimed, racing to throw his arms around Shikaku's legs as well. He smiled and patted the young boy's head before turning and waving goodbye to Kushina.

Kushina bent down to help Naruto with his shoes. "Now you go wash your hands, and I'll get dinner ready, okay?"

He gave her a big goofy grin that seemed to brighten the hallway, "Okay Ka-san!" He dashed off for the bathroom, the smack of little feet on hard floor echoing down the hall. Kushina could hear the rush of water as she went back to check on Kakashi. He was asleep, one of his hands loosely supporting the half-full mug of tea, the other hanging limply over the side of the couch.

Smiling softly, she took the tea out of his hand and placed it on the coffee table. Even in sleep, he looked exhausted. Dark circles surrounded his eyes, making the long pale eyelashes stand out in higher contrast. Frowning slightly, she looked closer at his face. The blush, which she first thought was out of embarrassment, was still present. She placed a hand against his forehead and recoiled. It felt like a stove top. She put it back on his forehead, and against the side of his face, surprised he hadn't woken up at her touch. His skin was slick with sweat.

"Kakashi?" He didn't move.

She shook his shoulder this time, saying his name a bit louder, "Kakashi?"

He stirred a little, his eyes opening unfocused and disoriented, "Hmm? Oh…sorry, Ku-…" He broke off in a fit of coughing. They sounded wet and painful as he tried his best to smother them inside his shirt.

"Hold on a minute." Kushina muttered, grabbing a box of tissues out of a nearby closet and handing a few of them to him.

Accepting them gratefully, he coughed into them. When the fit finally subsided he wadded them up and deposited them in a nearby garbage bin.

"Thanks for the tea Kushina-san. I should probably get going; it's getting late." Kakashi swung his legs over the side of the couch and swayed dangerously. Kushina lunged forward, grabbing his arms to steady him, "You aren't going anywhere Bakakashi. It was obvious you were sick but for goodness sake! If it was this bad why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm fine Kushina-san. I'm just…tired from the mission. I'll be alright after…" His voice faded as his eyes sank shut, shoulders starting to sag forwards. Kushina caught him, shaking him back awake.

"Don't be stupid Kakashi." She growled, pushing his back against the cushions and lifting his legs back onto the sofa.

"Kakashi, how many fingers am I holding up?" She asked placing two fingers in front of his face.

"Two" Kakashi rasped.

Kushina's eyebrows crinkled together as she regarded his unfocused gaze, "How many do you actually see?"

"Three?" He answered, his eyes slowly falling closed as his body overruled his will.

Kushina put her hand on his forehead a second time, as if unable to believe how hot it really was. There was no way he had been this bad when she met him on the road.

"I swear my husband…Minoto-baka when you get home…" She muttered to herself, pushing the silver hair off of his pale forehead.

Naruto came pattering out of the bathroom, and into the kitchen.

Kushina called distractedly, "Naruto-chan, go play in your room for a little bit okay?"

"Okay!" he answered, as he scampered into the other room, closing the door behind him. She hurried to the bathroom, grabbed the first aid kit and returned attempting to shake Kakashi awake again.

"Kakashi?" He didn't stir. She tried again only to get a muffled response and a few nonsensical words.

"Shit." She muttered as she produced a thermometer. Squeezing the sides of his jaw gently, she forced his mouth to open and stuck the thermometer under his tongue. She let go as the front door opened again, the sound of shoes being taken off echoed through the house.

"Minato?"

"Hey, I'm home. You wouldn't believe-" His voice cut off as he turned into the living room, gaping at Kakashi lying unconscious on his couch, "What happened?"

"Explain." Kushina snarled pointing stiffly at his student's limp body, "Now." The hair seemed almost to rise from her head in crimson flames as she glowered at Minato with barely controlled rage.

Minato raised his hands in defense, "He seemed fine at the office! A little tired sure, but nothing like _that_." Minato gestured helplessly.

"You let him leave like this, _Minato_."

"He was _not_ like this when he left Kushina! I didn't see anything wrong-"

"It's your job to notice things, _Minato._ " She snarled

"I know but-"

"People don't just get this sick, _Minato._ "

"but I-"

"When's that last time he had a day between missions, _MINATO._ "

"Stop saying my name like that!"

Kushina opened her mouth ready to verbally destroy her husband when the thermometer beeped. Immediately her rage cooled, and she shot Minato one last dirty look.

"We'll finish this later."

He sighed in relief and moved to kneel by his student's head. It was odd to see him without the mask. He looked younger, more vulnerable without it. His cold exterior was shattered in sleep. The innocent boy Minato remembered trailing behind Sakumo overlapped with the broken young man that was so often the object of Minato's worry. He looked so much like Sakumo. The hair, the eyes, everything a near perfect, if slightly more delicate, replica of Kakashi's late father.

Kushina pulled the thermometer out of his mouth, "He's got a fever. I didn't even realize how bad he was until a few moments ago. I thought it was just a cold."

Minato glanced up at her, snapping back out of his train of thought.

Tearing her eyes away from Kakashi, she glanced down at the thermometer.

Her mouth went dry.

"What?!" asked Minato, fear flickering across his face.

"We need to take him to the hospital. Now." Kushina ordered quietly, her voice eerily emotionless.

"What does it say?" Minato demanded, now rising to his feet.

"107.2" She answered.

The two exchanged terrified glances and, almost immediately, Minato had vanished in a puff of smoke.

* * *

Minato had been gone for nearly five minutes. Kushina paced impatiently in front of the couch chewing her fingernails. They needed to take him, now. If Minato wasn't back in the next three minutes she would take him herself.

Minato must have assigned one of the Anbu on guard duty to babysit Naruto, because the man walked in, waved at Kushina and took Naruto with the promise of Ichiraku Ramen for dinner. The man had taken off his mask and stared worriedly at Kakashi before ushering the oblivious four-year-old out the door.

Kushina wiped Kakashi's face with a damp rag. His breathing was getting heavier. Thick silver hair sticking to his forehead and the sides of his face. One onyx eye fluttered half open as he attempted to sit up.

Kushina's ready hand prevented him from rising. His breathing hitched as a splitting pain threatened to crush his skull. Lying his head back down, he squeezed his eyes shut, praying for the pain to disappear.

"Kakashi-kun?" Whispered Kushina, "Can you drink something for me?"

Kakashi nodded and instantly regretted it as the world spun round him in circles. He closed his eyes again, taking in a few deep breaths to try to calm his now revolting stomach.

Kushina returned with a glass of water and held it out to him. He reached for it and missed. Now visibly annoyed he tried a second time, his fingers brushing the side of the glass, failing to take it from her again. She set it down and propped him up against the arm of the couch. Taking his clammy hand, she placed the glass in it, helping him to lift it to his mouth. He took a few hesitant sips, cringing as the liquid hit his reeling gut.

Suddenly, he clapped a quivering hand over his mouth and reached for the garbage can. Kushina beat him to it, shoving it onto his lap as the contents of his stomach emptied with the painful sound of retching. As he finished; itKushina handed him the glass of water again. He rinsed out his mouth and spit into the trash can, "I'm-…s-sorry K-Kushi-ina-san." He gasped weakly as she put the trash can back on the floor.

"It's okay Kakashi-kun." She answered gently, pushing him back against the couch cushions, "Minato-baka will be back in a few minutes, and then we'll take you to the hospital."

Kakashi's eyes began to close again, "I'm fine…just tired…I don't need to…"

"You're going."

He shook his head and pinched his eyes shut for a moment, "I'm okay…we'll just make camp here for the night…can…head back to Konoha…t'marrow."

Kushina tried to stuff down the panic fluttering in her gut, "Okay Kashi-kun."

"…S'pose call me…Wolf…"

* * *

Minato reappeared with a puff of smoke. Kushina moved over to make room for him as he hurriedly leaned down to scoop up Kakashi. As Minato slid his arm under Kakashi's legs, Kakashi cringed, his knee jerking up and away from Minato's hand.

"Kakashi, what did you hide from me?" He demanded, pulling a kunai out of his pouch and pushing Kakashi's shaking fingers out of the way.

"'S jus' a scratch. I'm fine."

Minato sliced open the fabric of his pants, cringing at the bloodstained bandage encircling his thigh.

"We'll talk about this later." He muttered, stowing his kunai and ignoring the soft gasp of pain as he hoisted Kakashi up. One of his arms swinging limply in the air as Minato maneuvered around the coffee table.

"Kushina, we'll meet you there. I can't teleport two." She nodded and stepped back as the pair vanished in a puff of smoke.

* * *

Kakashi's stomach reeled at the sudden change of location. He turned his head to vomit what little was left in his stomach onto the tile floor of the hospital. He could hear it splattering under the harsh retching noises rising from his throat. Vaguely he became aware of Minato's supporting arms.

"Medic! Medic!" He bellowed. Kakashi felt his voice rumble through his chest. The world faded in and out of focus.

Hands were lifting him from Minato's arms, placing him on a gurney. Wait…a _gurney_.

 _'Nonononononono'_

He struggled weakly against the foreign hands, unfamiliar chakra surging into his system. Too tired to fight, a strained whimper escaped his lips, terror coursing through his veins like fire.

Minato's familiar hand found his shoulder. They were moving…maybe, Kakashi wasn't sure; he thought he could hear the sound of wheels on tile, Minato's face hovering in and out of view.

"'m okay…" Kakashi whispered, begging Minato to save him. To get him _out_. Get him anywhere else but here. His voice was barely audible over the shouts of medics and the whir of the wheels on tile.

There was a sharp pain in his chest, and suddenly his vision tunneled. Darkness swallowed him.

* * *

Minato paced back and forth across the waiting room. Kakashi's heart had stopped before they even managed to get him past the nurse's station. They had revived him, but the situation was critical. No one was telling him anything, and it was beginning to drive Minato crazy. To make matters worse, Kushina had walked in just in time to see Kakashi gasp back to life under the paddles, so he had spent the past three hours trying to comfort his hysterical wife. Now that Kushina was sane enough to go in search of tea, Minato had nothing to occupy his racing thoughts.

How had he not seen it? How did Kakashi manage to hide a wound that large from him? He'd seen the subtle limp, but he'd brushed it off as a twisted ankle. He thought if it was serious Kakashi would have it taken care of. How could he be so _blind_? How hadn't he remembered that team Ro was short a medic? That Kakashi always checked in with _Crow_ after missions. How had he _forgotten_ that Kakashi wouldn't get within _ten feet_ of a hospital unless someone was dragging him there? And why the hell wouldn't anyone tell him what was going on? That was his last student in there. He couldn't lose all three.

A nurse walked by and Minato stopped his pacing to call to her, "Miss?"

She breezed by him as if he weren't even there. He sat down heavily and hung his head in defeat. This was all his fault.

Just then a voice broke through his consciousness, "Hokage-sama?"

His head snapped up to see Tsunade standing in front of him.

"How's Kakashi?"

"Well, to be honest, he's lucky to be alive. I managed to remove most of the poison but I'm still working on finishing the anti-"

"He was _poisoned_?"

Tsunade nodded, "It's rare. Honestly, I haven't seen it outside of any medical books that aren't at least fifty years old. Someone really wanted the brat dead."

"How is that possible?" He exclaimed, "When he reported in this morning he seemed fine! If it was poison wouldn't it have been obvious from the start?"

Tsunade shook her head, "That's what makes this one tricky. It doesn't act right away, it spreads first. When it does kick in it does so swiftly. It can be present in a man for up to three days and you won't even notice it until an hour before they're dead. The only symptoms up until that point would probably be fatigue. You're lucky you caught the brat when you did. Half an hour more and we wouldn't have been able to save him."

Minato wiped a hand over his face, "He's going to be okay?" He confirmed.

Tsunade smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder, "He should be fine in a week or so. The antidote should be finished soon. I'd like to keep him in the ICU for a few days just to make sure this thing doesn't rear its ugly head again. The leg wound was deep but not serious; it looks to be a couple days old. If the brat had gotten it checked there was a chance we could have caught this sooner." A knowing look softened her features.

Minato sighed, rubbing the worry lines creasing his forehead, "Can I see him?"

She nodded, "Yes, but just you. I think one visitor is enough for now."

Minato stood and followed her down the hall and into a single room across from the nurse's station.

Kakashi lay in the bed, monitors beeping steadily as his chest rose and fell. An oxygen mask covered the lower half of his face, fogging slightly with each exhale. Silver hair fell softly over his closed eyes.

Minato stepped forward and brushed it back gently, placing a large hand on his student's shoulder.

"I gave him a sedative to help him sleep." Tsunade explained, picking up his chart and making a few extra notes, "He should be waking up soon, but probably not for long. Press the call button when he does."

Minato nodded and settled down to wait.


	2. Memories and White Washed Walls

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

 **Author's Note: Hey guys! Thank you so much for your support! Chapter two is finally done. Please review! I would really like to know what you think! Thank you guys so much! I hope you enjoy.**

Lone Wolves Don't Last Long 

Chapter Two: Memories and White Washed Walls

Kakashi's eyes blinked open, the room a disorienting blur of light and fuzzy gray blobs. He scrunched them closed and tried again. His body felt like it had been submerged in deep water, an unnatural heaviness settling over his exhausted limbs. The bare white ceiling came in and out of focus as he blearily attempted to make sense of his surroundings. Industrial lights bored into his half closed eyes. Machines droned around him, a supremely irritating beeping noise seeming to echo from far away. He knit his eyebrows in frustration. His mind wasn't working the way it should.

 _'Drugged'_ he realized.

Something was attached to his face. He reached up to pull it away, clumsy fingers fumbling around the smooth plastic. A large calloused hand closed firmly around his own, gently unhooking his fingers and pushing his hand back to the bed.

"That needs to stay on for now Kashi," The soft voice floated lazily through his consciousness, making about as much sense as infants garbled gibberish. But the voice. He knew he should recognize it. Sluggishly, his mind searched for the answer, lazily drifting through a thick fog of drug induced delirium.

He attempted to turn his head towards the voice, annoyed that his mind couldn't reach a conclusion without a visual. His head was heavier than he remembered, his body slower to react. Yellow floated into view as the sound of a chair scraping heavily across tile floor moved closer. Forcing his eyes to stay open was proving difficult, his skull felt like someone had packed it with concrete.

Blue eyes appeared as the large hand returned to rest heavily on his shoulder.

 _'Minato-Sensei'_

He gave it a reassuring squeeze and pressed something on the wall. Voices blended together, indistinct mumbling filtering senselessly through Kakashi's useless ears.

He reached up to pull, what he now realized to be an oxygen mask, off of his face again. Minato, without even turning to look, grabbed his wrist and pulled it back down once more. Kakashi attempted to glare at him, failing miserably as his droopy eyelids and lack of motor control won over. Minato chuckled.

The sound of a door sliding open filtered through his ears. Footsteps approached, their muffled clacking slowly growing clearer as they neared his prone form. A small voice in the back of Kakashi's head screamed for him to take the defensive, that the unknown person could be a threat. The rest of Kakashi's mind blatantly ignored it, opting instead to allow the medicine to lull it into a debilitating state of semi-conscious. His body begged to give into the pull of drug induced slumber, to let his mind and body sink into oblivion. He fought against it, failing miserably as the sedatives took the liberty of making the decision for him, forcing his body to relax deeper into the thick mattress.

Cool, delicate hands turned his face. One of his eyelids was gently lifted as a light flashed across his pupil. He attempted to pull away but the hands held him still, lifting the other eyelid and repeating the same process.

Barely over the drunken haze, he could make out their voices.

"-looking much better….should wear off in a few hours."

"…give Kushina an update?-"

His eyes couldn't stay open any longer. The soft buzz of voices and whirring machines lulling him further into oblivion. Darkness reclaimed him.

* * *

He woke to the sound of pages turning. Shifting his head towards the noise, he pried his right eye open. Minato sat hunched over his book in the tiny plastic chair. Kakashi watched his sensei shift uncomfortably, spine popping as he stretched back with a grunt. The man, in all honesty, looked terrible. Dark shadows were beginning to form beneath his eyes. The hair on the left side of his head was hastily combed through, most likely with his fingers, after he had, in all likelihood, fallen asleep with his head on Kakashi's mattress. Kakashi felt a pang of guilt surge through him.

Unaware of student's current wakefulness, Minato leaned forward once more, flipping another page of the little orange book.

Allowing his right eye to wander, he began to dissect his surroundings. White walls, white ceiling, white sheets, and the brain splitting stench of antiseptic. The hospital. Perfect.

The oxygen mask was gone, his bare face feeling uncharacteristically cold and exposed in the open air. He quickly tugged the sheets over his nose, the movement alerting Minato to his student's newfound consciousness.

Minato glanced up from his novel, relief melting off the man's pale face.

"Hey, how're you feeling?"

 _'Terrified'_ But Kakashi wouldn't say that. Wouldn't beg for release he knew wouldn't be given. He searched desperately for a distraction. Anything to keep his mind from spinning out of control. His heart began to pound in his ears. The thick beats thundering down his body in waves. Honestly, he was surprised he hadn't completely lost it yet. His record for lucidity had been about three minutes at best before something snapped.

 _'Drugs…They haven't completely worn off yet._ '

…But they weren't going to last much longer. Searching frantically for something, anything, to take his mind off his current situation, his eyes locked onto the book clutched in Minato's hand, "Does Kushina-san know you read that?" He asked, looking pointedly down at the obnoxious orange cover.

Minato laughed lightly, the strain in his voice indicating he had noticed his student's distress, "Probably not." He smiled gently, trying to sooth the tide of rising anxiety boiling up under the Hatake's skin. The expression, though genuine, didn't reach the man's eyes. Blue orbs calculating his every move, muscles relaxed but ready. Ready to reach out and restrain him should the need arise. Suddenly Minato's hand twitched into his pocket, fingers pulling out a crumpled surgical mask, "Sorry, it was the best I could do."

"Thanks." Kakashi took it gratefully, hurriedly slipping it over his mouth and nose. His hands lowered the thin covers back down to his waist, noticing for the first time the sheer amount of wires and monitors attached his person. He tried, unsuccessfully, to slow his heart rate down. A task made difficult by hospital smell smack up against his face, but it was better than no mask. Better than having his shameful visage exposed to prying eyes.

The beeping of his heart rate monitor was speeding up, his sensei's eyes discretely glancing up at the undeniable proof of the last Hatake's cowardice. Kakashi fought the urge to throw something at it.

Despite the glance, Minato showed no signs of having noticed the change, continuing to stare pensively at the anbu's covered face. He seemed to be having some sort of internal debate, fingers steepled over his chin, elbows resting supportively on his knees. Kakashi studied his hands, determined not to look at Minato.

He knew he was in for it. Now that Minato was sure that his only student wasn't dying, the lecture would be ensuing shortly. He wasn't sure if he wanted that or not. A good fight may be just what he needed to stay the tide of rising panic forming in his gut. Minato leaned forward and put his head in his hands. Suddenly it occurred to him what this fight would be _about_. No. He definitely _didn't_ want to have this fight. Not now, not ever. Maybe if he just pretended he couldn't see him until Tsunade got there, he'd be saved.

"Kakashi…"

 _'Guess not'_. He sighed and allowed his shoulders to sag a little forward.

"This has to stop."

Kakashi looked away, "I don't know what you're talking about." He said tightly, a warning note behind the words. He did not want to have this conversation again.

"I know why you won't come to the hospital, but…Kakashi, what happened to Sakumo…" Kakashi shot him a death glare, "that won't happen to you. Tsunade and I have made sure of it."

Kakashi's fists clenched into the blankets, "That's none of your business."

Minato shook his head, "Yes it is Kakashi. I've already lost two of my students. I refuse to lose another."

Kakashi sat in grudging silence, trying to ignore the sensation of white walls steadily bending inward. He glanced at the window in an attempt to pretend he was anywhere else but there.

Minato's voice droned on, piercing into his skull like a hot knife.

"What the hell were you thinking? Leaving a leg wound like that and just going home! We have procedures for a reason."

Kakashi shrugged, feigning disinterest. It was well known within the Anbu that Hatake Kakashi didn't enter the hospital of his own free will unless he was dragging someone _else's_ sorry ass in. Even then he avoided it. Honestly, Kakashi knew it was stupid. He was, or at least should be, above such things at his level. For whatever reason, this was something that Kakashi just couldn't let go of.

"I didn't think it was that serious."

Minato exhaled in exasperation, "Look…I know you don't come to the hospital. I get that. Your check in has always been with team Ro's medic."

Kakashi froze.

"But…Kakashi. Even if your medic is KIA, that doesn't negate your responsibility to check in. There are _hundreds_ of medics in the Anbu. Any _one_ of them could have checked that wound last night."

Kakashi continued to school his face into neutrality, the rising anger in his chest threatening to bubble over.

"I know what it's like to lose a teammate. I understand how hard that is. But…Kakashi you can't _punish_ yourself for what happened by refusing medical attention-"

"I'm not punishing myself." He intoned stonily, mentally sliding on his wolf mask. He forced his emotions to draw back, hiding them behind imaginary porcelain.

"Regardless, It's been over a month since Crow died-"

 _'Seven weeks and three days.'_

"-and I can't keep sending you on missions if I think you'll just go home and bleed out on your kitchen floor."

"I can take care of myself." Kakashi replied. The soft words cutting through Minato's heart like ice.

Minato scowled furiously, "You were poisoned. You almost _died_ last night, Kakashi!…"

Kakashi flinched inwardly, memories slamming into his consciousness like a battering ram…

...

 _…"You almost_ died _last night kid, seriously just lean on me will ya?"_

 _Grudgingly, he allowed his weight to fall onto the large medic nin. Their steps were painstakingly slow. Raccoon had left with the intel the night before, leaving Kakashi and the team's medic to make their way back to the rendezvous point. They still had a ways to go, despite having walked half the night and well into the morning._

 _Kakashi tried not to cringe as the wound across his chest pulled, spotting the fresh bandages with crimson. Crow's arm tightened around his waist._

 _"We're almost there, Taichou"_

 _But they_ weren't _almost there. Not at the rate they were going…and they were running out of time. The enemy had been gaining on them for the past hour. The only reason they'd made it as far as they had was constant chakra suppression and a bit of dumb luck. But it wasn't going to be enough anymore. Kakashi couldn't mask his chakra for much longer. His body was too weak. They had to start moving faster, and they had to start moving faster_ now.

 _"I can-" Kakashi started to pull away._

 _Crow jerked his arm none too gently further over his own shoulders, "Not a chance."_

 _"We're moving too slow," Kakashi muttered, "At this pace, the enemy will overtake us in the next ten minutes."_

 _"We'll make it." Crow grunted, getting a better grip on his arm. All the same, his steps quickened._

 _Kakashi could sense them drawing nearer. The pressure of the enemy's presence shooting chills down his spine. In the distance, a soft baying rose. Their voices were mournful cries, an eery promise of death floating closer…._

 _They had ninja hounds._

 _"There's no time!" Kakashi hissed, "Just leave me, I'll be fine."_

 _Crow shook his head, "If I leave you, you'll die."_

 _Kakashi gripped Crow's vest with one blood soaked hand, "If you stay then we,_ both _die." he said meaningfully._  
 _Crow tightened his hold, trying to steady his comrade as he began to jog. Kakashi's fractured leg barely supported any weight, pain shooting up from his foot with each jarring step._

 _"I'm a medic, I can't just leave you out here."_

 _The hounds were drawing closer, and Kakashi felt his heart sink. Ten minutes just turned into five. Their scent was too clear, Kakashi's blood as good as a homing beacon to the enemy._

 _"Yes, you can." He implored. Crow couldn't die. Not now. Not for him. He shoved Crow hard, pushing himself out of his grip and slumping heavily against a tree, "GO. That's an order. Get out of here!" He waved an arm desperately to emphasize his point, sliding down the trunk and landing in a crumpled heap on the dirt._

 _Distant voices rose over the rushing of leaves. The animals went silent._

 _Crow stood over him, looking back towards the sound of rapidly approaching bloodshed._

 _"Crow, retreat!"_

 _Crow placed a finger to his headset, "Team Ro, Beta one to beta two, do you copy? Over."_

 _The receiver sputtered to life, Bear's voice crackling through the speaker, "Copy, Beta two to Beta one, report in Beta one. Over."_

 _"Beta one, eight miles southwest of rendezvous requesting immediate assistance. Enemy engagement eminent, over."_

 _"Copy, Beta one. Wilco. What is your status? Over."_

 _"Wolf is down, Crow unharmed, Coon went ahead with the intel. Enemies approaching, approximately two minutes out. Over"_

 _"Copy that Beta one. Hold your position, reinforcements leaving now. Over and out."_

 _Crow lowered his hand from the earpiece, turning to drag Kakashi to his feet again._

 _"You're disobeying a direct order from your commanding officer." Kakashi growled, voice catching in his throat as the motion jostled his broken leg._

 _"My commanding officer is currently unfit for duty." Crow grunted, lowering him into the dense underbrush and performing the hand signs for a genjutsu._

 _Kakashi eyed him sharply, "It isn't going to take them long, even with the genjutsu. You have to leave me."_

 _Crow studiously ignored him, his hand flaring green as he grabbed Kakashi's broken leg and ran a quick scan. He sighed, "I have to set it. If I do, I may be able to heal it enough to get some mobility back." He looked up at Kakashi meaningfully._

 _Kakashi nodded. They didn't have time for painkillers. He knew he couldn't scream, it would give away their location. Clenching his teeth, he closed his eyes, "Just do it."_

 _Without further ado, Crow yanked down and jerked it hard. Kakashi bit back a scream. His body spasmed under Crow's solid hands, breath wheezing in barely controlled agonized gasps. Crows hands were already glowing again, knitting bone back together as quickly as he could._

 _"Shut up Taichou."_

 _"I didn't…say anything." He panted._

 _"I'm not leaving you here."_

 _They sat silently for a moment, the faint green glow of Crow's hands illuminating the leaves around them._

 _"…You have a daughter, Crow." Kakashi whispered._

 _Crow laughed bitterly, "And what kind of father would I be if I left my kid Taichou in the woods to die, eh? I want to be the kind of man worthy of having that daughter."_

 _"That daughter will need you whether you're worthy or not." Kakashi snapped, gaze searing into the dark sockets of Crows mask._

 _Crow sighed and reached for his medic kit, "I know Wolf, but this is the job. We all signed up for it. I knew what I was getting into when I put on this mask." He wrapped a bandage around the leg and pulled it taught, "You should be able to stand on that, not for long, but you should be able to stand on it."_

 _Kakashi nodded, turning it gently side to side. He winced, but the pain was manageable. Crow turned to say something. A twig snapped. Kakashi held up a hand._

 _Footsteps crunched in the dry leaves. The genjutsu had momentarily taken hold as the enemy turned and skirted the area in a shallow arc. Crow sucked back further towards Kakashi, taking a firm hold on the back of his captain's vest and getting ready to pull him to his feet._

 _Kakashi watched warily as the figures flitted between the nearby trees. The genjutsu had affected the hounds too, the dogs whining as they stopped to catch a scent in the wrong direction. One of the pursuers growled, "Something's off, Ichirou Taichou."_

 _The third ninja up the line stopped and looked around, "Kia!"_

 _"Shit" Crow leapt up and back, hauling Kakashi along with him._

 _"There!" The Iwa nin shot forward, dodging between trees and weaving hand signs._

 _"Earth style, stone pistol jutsu!"_

 _Crow pulled him behind a tree as stone peppered the ground around them. Bark sprayed in all directions, a well aimed bullet grazing Cows upper arm. He cringed and jerked it back, the movement sending a flare of terror through the silver haired captain. He wouldn't lose another comrade. He wouldn't. He_ wouldn't.

 _Kakashi formed the hand signs for ox, rabbit, and monkey, "Chidori!"_

 _"Wolf, no!"_

 _Darting around the tree before Crow could stop him, Kakashi forced his body into action. Sprinting across the forest floor, he rammed his hand through the nearest Iwa nin. For a split second he stood perfectly still, staring disbelieving into Kakashi's mask, before he slumped, dead onto the anbu's impaling arm._

 _Kakashi allowed the weight of the corpse to drag him down, out of the way of the kunai slicing towards his face. He rolled with it, ripping his arm out with sickening squelch as he dodged a well aimed kick to the head._

 _Crow was pelting forwards, hands forming seals in quick succession, "Fire Style, Phoenix flower jutsu!"_

 _Flames erupted from his mouth, peppering the enemy and the ground around them. He tore forwards, intercepting one of the Iwa nin who was swooping down on his captain from behind._

 _Kakashi snatched a handful of shuriken from his pouch, flicking them into the ranks of incoming shinobi as another volley of stone forced the two further into the wood._

 _They were outnumbered in the extreme. They didn't stand a chance like this. Kakashi formed a few hand signs, grabbed Crow, and sunk into the ground like it was water. Emerging behind a large tree thirty meters away, the two anbu began to take stock of their surroundings._

 _Kakashi sucked in a breath, leg instinctually jerking up as the extent of the damage he'd redone reached his brain. Crow's calloused hand latched onto his shoulder, squeezing it like a vice. He hissed furiously into Kakashi's ear,"That was stupid, Taichou! You'll get yourself killed using Chidori with a broken leg."_

 _Kakashi shrugged, regaining control of his breath and peering cautiously around the edge of the tree. The dogs were having a hard time tracking them, their scent untraceable so long as the wind continued to blow from their backs._

 _"They'll find us out in a few seconds, Crow you have a chance-"_

 _"Not without you."_

 _"Crow-"_

 _"NOT without you."_

 _Kakashi sighed in defeat and turned to look again. If he used a long range jutsu he'd reveal their location. If he used a short range attack he wouldn't have the speed to retreat without help from Crow. They could wait and try to keep hiding, but reinforcements were still a good ten minutes away, and the likelihood of them hiding that long was slim to none. Especially with the hounds on their tail. They'd be found out in the next few seconds. They had to act now, while the enemy was still unaware of their location._

 _Kakashi elbowed Crow and pointed up the tree, pulling out a few explosive tags. Crow nodded and took them, flitting into the next shadow and out of sight. He closed his eyes for a second, willing away the memories of his fallen; the half crushed, eyeless form of Obito, the terror stricken face and blood soaked lips of Rin, the curve of his father's back illuminated by a thunderstorm outside his study window, and desperately tried to keep Crow's face from overlapping. He wouldn't let it happen again. Not again._

 _Kakashi channeled his chakra into his hands and unbroken leg, managing to crawl awkwardly up the side of the tree with minimal discomfort. Inching slowly forward on the thick branch, he positioned himself over the group of incoming Iwa nin and waited._

 _Their dogs were barking wildly, drool beginning to bubble around their frantic lips as their noses led them to the base of Kakashi's tree. Enemy nin flooded into the small clearing behind them._

'Any second now…'

 _The moment the first shinobi looked up towards Kakashi's branch, the explosions went off, fire billowing around the perimeter of the glade. The dogs yelped, dashing back to their masters in a panic as smoke and dust rose like a wall, effectively hiding Crow and Kakashi from sight. Iwa nin leapt back from the flames, the startled shinobi reflexively drew together towards the middle of the ring._

 _"Water Style, Raging waves jutsu!" Kakashi's whispered, water erupting from his mouth and smashing into the clearing. The wave hit a few Iwa nin, six others managing to dodge, landing with a smack on the soaked ground. Steam engulfed the forest, burying the enemy in a dense white fog._

 _"Lightning style, lightning clone jutsu" Kakashi leapt from his branch and dashed for new cover, his lightning clone engaging the enemy. He could hear them scream as the clone dissipated, electricity crackling across the wet ground and into his adversaries. Ducking down behind another large tree, his sharingan roved the forest for Crow's familiar chakra signature._

 _Their pursuers were angry now. The lightning had caught their dogs as well as three of their men. Voices rang out as the remaining five shinobi spread out to search._

 _Kakashi was near his limits. He didn't think he could run again, not without re-snapping his fractured leg. The blood loss was starting to get to him, blurring his vision as he forced himself to stand against the massive trunk. The movement made his stomach lurch, bile rising warningly to the back of his throat. He swore quietly, disgusted with himself. He was supposed to be the captain. He shouldn't be this weak._

 _A kunai thunked into the ground beside him, an explosive tag about to detonate. He wasn't going to be fast enough. Rapidly forming a few hand signs, he sunk into the ground, head barely disappearing under the dirt as the tag blew. The ground around his skull trembled, the blast deafening him as he managed to pull himself out of the earth a few meters over. His hearing was shot, the buzzing only becoming more pronounced as time went on._

 _"Shit."_

 _The ground rumbled as stone spikes came careening around, jutting towards him in a jagged arc. He rolled out of the way and felt the air shift behind him._

 _He turned to see Crow's back, arms outstretched facing the leering visage of the Iwa nin's captain. Kakashi's hearing was slowly returning as their voices, though nonsensical, filtered through his ears._

 _Crow's arms swung into motion, crashing down on the side of the shinobi's neck. The Iwa nin crumpled to the ground and lay there motionless._

 _The anbu stood there, chest heaving as he stared down at the crumpled body of the dead shinobi. His shoulders shivered beneath the gray of his vest, the motion unnatural for a man so inherently still. Every move the man made was with purpose. Every breath the man took calculated. Something was wrong._

 _"Crow?"_

 _Crow turned, Kakashi now noticing the short blade protruding from the man's chest._

 _"Crow!" Kakashi attempted to catch him as he fell, weak legs unable to support them both. They sagged to the ground together, Kakashi's hands supporting the man's quivering shoulders._

 _"Crow, you…why would you?"_

 _Blood dribbled from underneath the medics mask as he coughed. It splattered onto the handle of the short sword, rolling down the blade to mix with the pool of blood seeping from his chest. His hand moved to rest on Kakashi silver hair, ruffling it as he would a small child's. The buzzing in Kakashi's ears was beginning to lessen, Crow's soft words filtering through his panicked mind._

 _"…you'd have done…the same for me…" he glanced up, the relief palpable in his voice, "Reinforcements are here…"He sagged in Kakashi's arms._

 _Lowering him to the ground, Kakashi started digging through his pouch, pulling out a pack of gauze and pressing it around the edges of the knife._

 _"Should I pull it out?" Kakashi asked, desperately trying to keep the lifeblood from seeping between his frantic fingers._

 _Crow shook his head, "Leave it. You'll do more damage…if you…take it out." He groaned softly, "Besides…heart's gonna stop any minute…'s too late for me."_

 _Kakashi shook his head, panicked hands packing more bandages around the seeping wound, "No it's not. You'll make it. And when you do, I'm giving you grunt work for a year as a reward for pulling this shit."_

 _Crow chuckled, blood crackling in his throat._

 _"No kid…Pierced my heart and into a lung…no one would be able to repair it fast enough…"_

 _Kakashi was vaguely aware of a wood beam soaring past his head, pinning an Iwa nin in the mud._

 _"I told you to run…I told you to leave me. I have no one…you-you"_

 _"Have enough good memories to last a lifetime. Besides, I'm…old for an Anbu. Not many of us…make it to thirty, eh?"_

 _"No y-"_

 _"You haven't had a chance to…get that. That freakin…war took so m-uch from you." He drew in a rattling breath, "You're…Just a kid."_

 _"I'm eighteen."_

 _"Still a kid…" he grunted._

 _Kakashi could feel his sharingan tearing._

 _"I won't…ask you for…all that bull shit…dying guys ask for. Aki…will be fine. She's a good…mother. Suzu will…grow up…we-ell." He gasped and placed a large calloused hand on top of Kakashi's. It was usually so strong…so warm…and now it was ice. A frozen leaf quivering in the wind; Its stem about to snap and drop it to the unforgiving ground._

 _"But at least do this…okay kid? Find…a little…peace in your life…something to…fall back on. Every Anbu breaks eventually…you're going to…need help when that happens…and it looks like…I won't…be a-able to…be there when it does…"_

 _"Crow-"_

 _"Promise me"_

 _Kakashi nodded._

 _"Good…"_

 _He could hear footsteps behind him. He didn't care. He didn't care that blood had soaked through the bandages on his chest. He didn't care that his leg throbbed. He didn't care that an Iwa nin just dropped behind him, the dead man's hand slapping his shoulder as he fell. He didn't care. Crow was dying. Another one. Another failure. Another reason why he shouldn't be here. Shouldn't be breathing. Shouldn't be watching another sacrifice everything for his miserable excuse of a life._

 _"Hey Taichou?"_

 _"What?"_

 _Could you…gi-ive this back to…Coon for me?"_

 _His hand fumbled in his pocket, bloody fingers drawing out a small gold pocket watch and dropping it in Kakashi's hand._

 _Kakashi choked back something between a sob and a laugh, "Yeah…I'll give it to him."_

 _Crow laughed gently, "Wish I could see his face…when he…realizes…"_

 _The man went silent._

 _"Crow?"_

 _He took a deep shuddering breath and let it out. It was too relaxed, too long to be natural. Lifelessly, his head lolled to the side. Limp fingers slid from the wound, the motion leaving streaks of blood in their wake. Crow was dead._

 _Kakashi climbed back to his feet, swaying slightly. This wasn't real._

 _A hand gently touched his shoulder, "Senpai?"_

 _Bear stepped forward and crouched down. He placed two of his grimy fingers against Crow's still neck, "He's gone."_

'This isn't real.'

 _Mouse's voice echoed senselessly behind him,"More are coming, at least three from eleven o'clock."_

'This isn't real.'

 _"We've gotta get out of here, Taichou can you walk?"_

 _Kakashi looked numbly up at Tenzo, not answering. He fought to drown his consciousness under the anbu mask. To retake his role as captain and leave the broken boy in the dust behind him._

'This isn't real'

 _"Wolf! Can you walk?"_

 _He shrugged noncommittally, allowing Tenzo to pull his arm across his shoulders. He was a tool. He was empty. He was Wolf._

 _Bear reached down and removed Crow's mask. He was smiling._

 _Kakashi's legs buckled._

 _"Senpai!"_

* * *

 _'I'm a tool, tools don't feel. I'm a tool, tools don't feel. I'm a tool, tools don't feel. I'm a tool, tools don't feel…'_

* * *

"Kakashi? Did you even listen to a word I said?"

Kakashi's face was blank as usual, his eyes staring listlessly down at the tiles on the other side of the bed. Minato had to wonder sometimes whether he was really just lost in thought or if he was actually just blatantly ignoring him.

"Kakashi!"

Kakashi's head turned slowly towards him, a confused expression clouding his features. For a brief moment, a brokenness seemed to flash across his eyes, quickly plastered over with his typical deadpan stare. Minato watched him, dumbfounded. _'What just happened?'_

Minato's gaze softened, "Hey…You okay?"

Kakashi nodded blankly. Minato wondered where he went when he got like this. What deep dark corner of his psyche he disappeared to. He hated seeing him suffer, hated seeing him hide it, hated knowing it was so far from his reach. But that wasn't bothered him the most. This wasn't the first time Kakashi had left wounds untreated. Minato wondered if it was his way of atoning. Punishment for events far out of his control.

Minato sighed in exasperation, "You really had us worried, Kakashi."

The young anbu's face betrayed nothing as he glanced languidly up to meet Minato's eyes, "I'm sorry for any trouble I caused." His voice was cold, like an echo from the depths of some lonely cavern. The mask was back in place. The shell that hid him from the world reformed. He was anbu Wolf once more. Minato's heart clenched.

Just then Kushina came barging through the door, "You should be Bakakashi!" She marched across the room and grabbed him in a bone crushing hug. Just like that, the expressionless shell was shattered. Kakashi's arms stuck out like someone had dumped a bucket of freezing water on his head. Minato smirked.

She pulled back only an inch from the young Anbu's nose and shouted, "What the hell were you thinking not going to the hospital! You almost died, you know! Actually, you _did_ die! Three times in fact! They had to restart your heart _three_ times last night. _THREE TIMES!_ I swear if you were not in this bed right now I would kill you myself! If you had gone home last night you'd be dead right now! I can't believe you, you know? You're supposed to be a _genius_ you baka!"

Kakashi's eyes widened in surprise and mild fear. He held his hands up defensively in front of him, "S-Sorry Kushina-san, I didn't-"

"You didn't know? Don't pull that crap on me Kakashi-kun. You knew you were sick. When I found you, you looked so tired you could have just collapsed on the road right there. And you're telling me you didn't _know_?"

Kakashi averted his eyes in discomfort, sucking back deeper against his pillows. Actually, he really _hadn't_ known. Exhaustion is pretty much a daily thing for your typical insomniac. Sure he had been more tired than usual but going for over three days without sleep could do that to anyone, poisoned or not. Although, even if he had known he was sick, most likely he'd have done the same thing.

"Sorry, Kushina-san…" He muttered.

Kushina sighed and lightly punched his arm, "Well, you've earned yourself a week-long stay in the hospital for your efforts. I hope you're satisfied."

Kakashi shot a hopeful look at Minato, eyes begging for release.

"Sorry Kashi-kun, doctor's orders." Minato made a mental note to have Tsunade seal the window.

"And _YOU_." Kushina rounded on him. Stepping forward to grab a fistful of his shirt, "Don't think you're getting off the hook so easy! In the hall. _Now_."

Minato followed, turning to grin sheepishly at Kakashi. His face was a shade paler than before as he turned stiffly to trail behind his furious wife.

* * *

Kakashi sighed in relief as the room drifted into relative silence. Leaning back against the pillows, he rubbed his thumbs into his forehead. The smell was starting to get to him, antiseptic permeating the mask and irritating his sensitive nose.

He hadn't been back to the village for more than a day since Crow died. His past two missions had been solo missions. He'd have to face his team again soon. It couldn't be avoided any longer. He exhaled stiffly, trying to relax his taut muscles. The room seemed to constrict as his breathing hitched in the back of his throat. This wasn't the place to think over his problems.

The door flew open with a resounding bang.

"MY ETERNAL RIVAL!"

"Guy! Get the hell away from my patient!"

Kakashi groaned and turned over, smashing one of the pillows firmly over his ears, _'It's going to be a long week.'_


	3. Of Pocket Watches and Poor Timing

**Disclaimer: I still do not own Naruto.**

 **Authors note: So guys, I've now written this chapter three times. Pages threw a hissy fit and deleted all of my progress twice! This is try number three. I actually had it finished a week ago and my computer freaked out and deleted half of it. Needless to say, I might have roused the neighbors with my screaming. Not that they could understand since it was mainly gibberish mixed with sobbing. Anyway, third times the charm right?**

 **Despite having written it three times this chapter and I are still kind of at odds with each other. I'm not sure if I like it. Please, _PLEASE REVIEW!_ I would really like to know how I can improve my writing. A _super big_ thanks to leenatrq and Redfoxshadow for your reviews! They helped give me the extra push to keep writing!**  
 **Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!**

Lone Wolves Don't Last Long 

Chapter Three: Of Pocket Watches and Poor Timing

Kakashi made his way towards the Anbu training grounds, sucking in a deep breath of fresh air. Finally, he was free. He stretched his arms behind his back and groaned in contentment as his shoulders popped. It was a relief to finally be released. Not that he remembered most of it. His mind had begun wandering onto shaky ground during his conversion with Minato and Kushina. Guy's visit, or more accurately, forced removal, had pushed him even closer to his breaking point. Kakashi still couldn't remember exactly what had caused him to snap. What the last thing was that had pushed his mind and body into survival mode. Nor did he remember what chaos had ensued after he had. Lady Tsunade had informed him, rather peevishly, that he had injured two of her medic nin before they could subdue him. He should probably have felt guilty, but for once in his life, guilt seemed to have escaped him.

Unfortunately, sedation had proved to be the only effective method of keeping Kakashi in the hospital. He couldn't stand it. The thought of being in _that_ place utterly helpless sent ice through his veins. Although he'd rather not remember his stays in the hospital, sacrificing his ability to protect himself was not something he considered to be a reasonable trade-off. Even so, drugs were the only option they had to keep him in bed. Kakashi certainly wouldn't stay in that hell hole if he had the ability to extricate himself. At the very least, he was glad that he didn't have to remember his visits to the white washed corpse factory. Nor relive the painful memories that had burned into its halls.

In spite of his week-long drug-induced nap at the hospital, his leg was still aching. Tsunade had freed him with strict orders to take it easy, no training, no missions, for at least another week. Taking it easy had lasted only about a day and a half before his restlessness had overcome him.

Admittedly, training in his current condition was probably not a good idea, but he couldn't sit still any longer. He was done with the stagnation of a sedentary lifestyle. Ready or not, he was training today. Besides, he had avoided his team long enough.

His shoe scuffed on the dirt road, sending up plumes of pale dust in the morning light. Konoha was a different world early in the morning, before the throngs of chattering villagers and screaming children took to the streets. The sun had only begun its slow ascent into the sky, bathing the world in a soft buttery light. Trees shivered in the gentle breeze, shaking off some of their burden to float lazily to the ground. Shops and apartment complex's lay in relative peace, their bright signs fluttering cheerfully over empty stands as shop keepers flipped their closed signs to open. The occasional early bird swept past him, but on the whole, the roads were empty.

Most civilians were still tucked safely in bed while shinobi began the daily rigamarole of keeping them alive and well. Not that civilians ever showed much gratitude. At least, not towards the Anbu. Anbu were seen as monsters, faceless killing machines that the villagers gave wide berth. Honestly Kakashi didn't care. It wasn't like he was fishing for compliments. The mask was a safety net, a wall to hide behind. The silver hair gave him away, but for the most part, the Anbu mask had been effective at hiding his identity. In the beginning it was his face that gave him away. Then it was the mask. Now it was the hair. What could a guy do? He just was, unfortunately, never going to be a nondescript character. He sighed and shoved his hands deeper into his pockets.

It was unusually cold this morning. Enough that the bare part of Kakashi's shoulders was beginning to go numb. It felt good though. The cool air leaving a kind of freshness in its wake that warmth just couldn't provide. He took a deep breath, looking up into the crisp blue sky. His hand closed gently around the cool metal of Crow's last request, its delicate machinery ticking softly between his fingers.

He had resigned himself to give Coon his watch back today. It had taken him three hours to wash the bloody fingerprints off the back of it. Two hours and fifty minutes of that time had been spent trying to bring himself to do it. To rinse away the evidence the man's final wish. He knew it was absurd, but the blood seemed like a part of the watch now, like it had always been there. His fingerprints were a lifeline, a piece of him; a twisted, frightening, sickening and altogether gut-wrenching reminder of Kakashi's most recent failure.

He squeezed the watch and dropped it again, allowing his chilled fingers to rest on the smooth surface.

He'd have to face it eventually and today was as good a day as any.

 _'I'm a tool, tools don't feel. I'm a tool, tools don't feel…'_

He let the mantra play through his head. Reverberating inside of his skull and dulling his emotions back to a manageable level. He didn't need to feel. He was a tool. He was Wolf.

Somehow he hadn't noticed when he'd walked onto the training grounds. Looking up in surprise, he waved to the rest of his team, grateful for the layer of porcelain keeping his expression hidden.

"Good morning senpai." Tenzo approached him timidly, unsure of how to go about greeting him. They all knew he'd been avoiding them. Once or twice a few of his subordinates had gone looking for him after…that mission. His last two assignments had been desperate attempts to hide from them. Of course, they had probably all come to visit him at the hospital but he wouldn't have any memory of that.

He could see the worry, even through their masks. A wave of guilt washed over him. Stuffing the uncomfortable feeling down, he sighed in resignation, tightening the strap on his shoulder as he answered, "Morning Tenzo."

Tenzo took a step closer, the dew on the grass beginning to darken the material of his shoes, "Are you sure you should be back to work so soon?"

Kakashi rolled his eyes and clapped a hand heavily on Tenzo's shoulder, "I'm fine."

Coon pushed himself off the back of a large tree and snorted, "Stop mothering him, Tenzo." He clapped a hand on Kakashi's back and smirked, "Taichou is a big boy, he can take care of himself."

Kakashi ignored the comment, wrapping his fingers tighter around the watch in his pocket. The ticking was beginning to feel wrong. Like it should have stopped; like Crow's heart had. Suddenly the ticks between his fingers felt different.

 _snick…snick…snick…snick-thump…thump-thump…thump-thump._

Kakashi's fingers jerked back and opted to grab it by the chain.

 _'I'm a tool, tools don't feel, I'm a tool, tools don't feel, I'm a tool, tools don't feel.'_

" _-Ahhhhhh_ Taichou? Taichou?"

Kakashi's head snapped back up, Bears masked face hovering in front of him.

"Mmm? You say something?"

He could feel Bear's raised eyebrow behind the mask, "Yeah, are we gonna get started today or what?"

Coon groaned and snaked an arm across Kakashi's shoulder pointing loosely at Bear's chest, "Why are you always in such a damn hurry? Can't we ever just, you know, catch up as a team, chill out, take it easy for a day? Why do you have to be so stiff all the time? Honestly, I don't-"

Kakashi stiffened under the arm and stepped away casually, attempting to hide his obvious discomfort, "Bear's right. We should get started."

"But senpai," Mouse stepped forward worriedly.

"I'm _fine_. Okay team, we're running drills four through seven today. Mouse and I will form the defense for drill four." He picked up a dead branch and stuck it in the ground behind them, "The rest of you, this is your objective. Spread out and begin."

Cat, Bear, and Coon flitted away and disappeared into the trees to strategize.

Anbu training ground seventeen was one large clearing surrounded by a ring of dense forest. It was a good place to practice stealth, requiring near perfect control to keep from snapping the countless twigs and branches, or rustling the thick underbrush. It would challenge his team whilst allowing himself to remain on defense for the day, hopefully hiding the fact that his left leg still wasn't at one hundred percent.

Kakashi and Mouse stayed back guarding the branch. As of yet, no one had been able to get past Kakashi's Sharingan, at least not on his current team. Whichever team he was on for drill four almost always won. Stealth was his specialty. That and assassination. However, those drills he avoided like the plague, allowing his teammates either to target him or splitting them up and offering criticism. Somehow, assassination drills felt too real to him. It felt too dangerously likely that one day it would happen again. One of his friends would die because of him. It had already happened. Several times. Even within his current team. Had he not been wounded…

Shaking the thought away he re-focused on the drill. Tenzo would most likely thread his roots up from underneath them, either to incapacitate or to take the branch and slip it back to himself through the ground. However, Tenzo was aware Kakashi knew this tactic. He'd use it as a decoy then. Coon's talent lay in genjutsu. Most likely they would do something minor, just enough to throw off his movements. That would mean sending Bear in to finish the job. The genjutsu would mess with their aim, their speed maybe, just enough to allow Bears frontal attack to get through.

Kakashi stood at the ready, Mouse's hand resting loosely on her katana.

"Hey…Senpai?"

"Hmm?"

Mouse's hand pulled her blade free of its sheath and allowed the tip to rest lightly on the ground.

"You know that we don't blame you, right?"

Kakashi's back stiffened. The images of the dead smile on Crow's face flashing through his head like a twisted film-real.

"Haruki…he…what happened to him, that wasn't your fault. Missions go bad. That, as terrible as it is, is just part of being an anbu. When you stay in the ranks as long as he did…Well, it's only a matter of time."

He was thankful for his mask at the moment. Schooling the emotion back out of his face, he turned to look at her, "I…know. Thank you."

He kept his words cold, to the point. They _should_ blame him. That mission was his responsibility and his alone. The watch felt heavier in his pocket. The ticking of the hands and turning gears seeming to echo through his body like a voice through a deep cave, the failure reverberating through his hollow insides.

Suddenly roots threaded up through the ground, lashing tightly around their ankles, Mouse's arms swung into action, her Katana slicing smoothly through the growths around their feet. Kakashi's fingers formed a quick hand sign, "Kai!"

Immediately the world shifted one foot to the left.

 _'So there had been a genjutsu.'_

Bear shot out of the trees and aimed a punch at Kakashi's face. He dodged it easily, ducking to elbow him in the gut. Bear fell back a step and used the momentum to swing his leg up at Kakashi's chin. Kakashi stepped back, transferring his weight onto his left leg. He cringed as his damaged muscles revolted, shooting stabbing pains down past his knee. Lurching onto his right foot, he reached up and grabbed Bear's swinging leg by the ankle, pulling him forwards and out of balance. He careened into Kakashi's headlock.

"Drill four complete!" Kakashi called, "Defense won."

Coon stepped out from behind his tree trunk with a heavy sigh, "It's no fair taichou! How come your team always wins?"

Kakashi shrugged and smiled, releasing Bear from his choke hold. He leaned against the other man's massive shoulder in a casual attempt to take the weight off his left leg, "Mah, you're too predictable."

Bear looked down at him in surprise. His critical gaze roved over his captain's posture, the edge of confusion quickly becoming a deep sense of disapproval. Kakashi pretended not to notice.

Tenzo walked out of the tree line cracking his knuckles despondently, "Yeah, but I figured we might actually stand a chance this time."

"What makes this time so different?" Kakashi bantered, turning his head languidly to look at Tenzo.

Bear suddenly shoved him hard from the right side, forcing him to rebalance on his left leg. He cringed and awkwardly shifted back to his right foot, allowing his left leg to only maintain a small supportive role.

"Because you're handicapped." Bear chuckled.

Kakashi said nothing, opting instead to glare pointedly back at his burly subordinate.

Tenzo removed his mask and stuck it in his pouch muttering, "Relax taichou, it's not like we're going to haul you back to Tsunade or anything."

Mouse stepped forward, "Even so, maybe you should just rest for today."

Kakashi huffed in exasperation, "I've done enough resting to last a lifetime."

"You were only released from the hospital yesterday." Mouse countered, "Training probably isn't the best idea. Maybe we should call it quits for the day?"

Coon took off his mask, smirking evilly, "No way, I've finally got a chance at beating him like this! Besides Kakashi can make his own decisions, Yugao."

Yugao untied her mouse mask and drew her thin eyebrows together in annoyance, "But senpai-"

"Oh Kakashi senpai!" Coon's voice rose several octaves higher in a bad imitation of Yugao, "Are you wounded my love?" Coon grabbed Kakashi's hands in mock romance.

Kakashi swatted him away, "Get off me baka!"

" _Taro_ " Yugao growled, dropping her mask to the ground. Her hands lingered in the air as if she were imagining wrapping them around his throat, " _you…_ "

Taro smirked and made another grab for Kakashi's hand, "Don't be so cold senpai!"

Kakashi made a half-hearted swipe at the side of Coon's head.

"NOTICE ME SENPAI!"

"THAT'S IT!" Yugao tackled him, landing a few good punches on his rib cage. Coon laughed as he held his arms up for protection.

"Yugao, how unladylike of you!"

One of Tenzo's wooden beams snaked between them, effectively ending the childish squabble. Despite Yugao having effectively landed a few punches, there wasn't much anger behind it. Typically it was Crow that Coon fought with. Mostly because Crow was capable of being even more childish than Coon. Something that Kakashi never quite understood, considering Crow had been the oldest member of the team. Crow often found pleasure in pestering the easily irritated young Anbu, almost as much as Taro enjoyed devising plans to get back at him. It seemed now that Crow was gone, Taro's was targeting new members of the team for his entertainment.

Yugao pointed at Taro's face, laughing evilly at the thick purple bruise forming underneath his left eye.

Despite their lighthearted jesting, there was an underlying sullenness around the whole party. The grief settled differently on everyone. Tenzo was more withdrawn. Daichi, a.k.a Bear, seemed more thoughtful. Taro was obviously acting even more stupid than usual, and it seemed he found a kindred soul in Yugao, opting to distract themselves from their missing team member by behaving like idiots.

Kakashi sighed as he let his fingers slip into his pocket and wrap around the watch chain once more. Now was as good a time as any.

"Taro," Kakashi called breaking the young anbu out of his rant at Tenzo. Taro stopped and looked up, "There's something I need to give you."

"Are you finally returning my love senpai?"

"Shut up and come over here."

Taro's slender eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he walked over to his captain.

Kakashi drew the watch out of his pocket and held it out to Taro. The boy's long fingers reached out to grab it numbly, eyes wide in disbelief.

The clearing instantly went silent.

A flash of understanding seemed to illuminate Taro's hazel eyes, "You jackass! You're the one who took that last year-"

Kakashi held up a hand, "Haruki asked me to give it back to you."

The grounds went silent again as Taro's face twisted into first one of confusion, then anger, and finally a stunned, "That son of a bitch."

Daichi laughed softly shaking his head.  
Yugao peered over his shoulder, "Is that the watch that went missing your first week on team Ro?"

Taro nodded, "Damn bastard stole it." He quickly thumbed a tear out of his eye, attempting to hide it by scratching his nose.

"To be fair," interjected Daichi, "You weren't supposed to wear it as an anbu anyway."

"The jerk watched me search for it for hours! I was trying to find that thing for weeks!"

Yugao shrugged, "Did you a favor. Stupid thing was getting in your way all week-"

"It was not!" Taro denied

"-and besides, the whole team hated it."

"It was cool!" He insisted.

"No." The entire team apart from Taro spoke as one.

Silence filled the training grounds, the wind rustling the grass seeming louder, more like waves on the ocean.

Suddenly, Yugao started laughing, "Didn't he offer to help you look for it?"

Taro started chuckling too, "Apparently only to satisfy his sick sense of humor."

Haruki's dead smile slipped into Kakashi's consciousness.

After a long pause, Kakashi cut the silence, "We'll dismiss training early today. Same time tomorrow."

"Why don't we all run over to Ichiraku?" Daichi offered, "Haruki loved that place."

"Yeah, I'm starving!" Taro agreed, "You're paying, right Daichi?"

"No way, I've got rent. You still live with your parents. Buy your own food."

Kakashi turned and began to walk back towards town.

"Aren't you coming, Senpai?" Called Tenzo, taking a hesitant step to follow. Kakashi turned and took off his mask, offering the team an eye smile, "No, I've still got some reports to take care of. I'll see you tomorrow."

He turned away from the group and shunshined of sight.

* * *

Tenzo's POV

Tenzo watched him leave, sighing despondently as the silver-haired captain flitted out of sight. He probably did have reports to take care of, but Tenzo was fairly certain that he wasn't going to. He'd be in one of two places. The memorial stone, or the graveyard. He glanced back at Daichi who shrugged knowingly, "I'd wait. Give him an hour or so before you go after him. He probably needs the space to think."

Tenzo nodded slowly, allowing the worry to be driven away at least for the time being.

Daichi turned and began herding his other two teammates back towards town.

Following behind slowly, Tenzo resigned himself to wait at least until after lunch to confront his captain.

* * *

Kakashi POV

Kakashi stood in front of the memorial stone staring numbly at Obito's name engraved on the reflective surface. He wasn't sure why he came so often. In some ways it was torture, standing there reliving the memories he so desperately wanted to forget. In others, it was a relief. A safe place to let all the guilt and hurt and fear and loneliness flow out of him like water. A torrent of emotion locked behind a fabric dam finally allowed to burst through. When no one was listening he could be honest with Obito. He was supposed to live for both of them, so he supposed it was only fair to be open with the guy. After all, in more ways than one Obito had saved his life; Had kept him from becoming the monster that was bound by a rulebook impossible to follow. Obito had saved him from himself…and he had let him die. If that wasn't bad enough then try adding murdering Obito's first and only love to the list.

Kakashi's eyes closed as a stabbing pain clenched in his chest; the guilt so palpable he could feel it constricting around him like a vice, squeezing the air from his lungs.

"I'm…sorry Obito. I failed again. Crow…" He took a deep shuddering breath, swiping a hand roughly across his eyes and clasping the back of his neck, "Crow died…it was my fault." He felt Obito's eye begin to tear, darkening the fabric of his hitiate.

"I'm the leader, it's my responsibility to get my team out safely." He pulled at his hair in frustration, "I failed…again. If I had just been faster. If I had seen their attack coming sooner…maybe…" He sighed heavily, the air rushing out of him and catching slightly in the back of his throat, "Maybe he'd still be alive. I told him to leave me! Why would he-"

Kakashi paced lividly back and forth across the damp grass, "He had a daughter! He had a _family_! I should have died out there. Hell, after everything I've done I _deserved_ to die out there!"

The memorial stone gave no response, continuing its silent vigil indifferently. A breeze blew through the clearing, ruffling Kakashi's clothing. Somehow the gust seemed to hollow out the air, making the place feel emptier than it ever had before.

He took a deep breath trying to hold his head above the waves of memories threatening to suck him under. He wouldn't break. Not today. His heartbeat thumped in his ears as he fought to regain control. It was getting harder and harder to stuff the memories down; to claw his way back to the surface of reality and gasp for breath. Dark waves roiled around him, hungrily crashing over him and dragging him down into their freezing depths. Each time he reached the surface the breath was shorter, the distance between waves decreasing. He was becoming tired of dragging himself back up. The beginnings of defeat lurking in the back of his mind as his strokes began to weaken. He refused to believe he was drowning. He wouldn't break. He _wouldn't_. He would not be weak like his father.

Suddenly Kakashi became aware of the silence. It was too quiet. The animals had hidden.

He drew a kunai slowly from his pouch, pretending to keep up his conversation with Obito. He began telling him about the other ongoings in the village, hoping to maintain some semblance of surprise despite his disadvantage.

Without warning a shuriken swept out of the woods, hurtling towards his face in a vicious arc. Kakashi ducked and launched to the right, ignoring the stabbing pain shooting down his leg. Shuriken peppered the ground behind him, leaving a deadly trail of glittering points leading back to the memorial stone.

"Who's there? Show yourself!"

The air shifted behind him. Kakashi ducked as a man's arm swept over his head, Kunai hissing as it cut through empty space. Kakashi rolled forwards, spinning to find the clearing empty. The wind blew eerily across the weapon spattered ground, an electric sort of calm settling over the landscape.

Footsteps pattered behind him. Turning, he spotted the shadow of a dark figure slipping into the tree line. A twig snapped as another shinobi leapt into the forest, melting into the underbrush across the clearing.

Kakashi lifted his hitiate, using the sharingan to scan for chakra signatures. Nothing. Nothing but the empty forest and swaying trees twitching their leaves in anticipation. To be able to conceal one's chakra took an incredible amount of skill. But this...there should still be _something_. Even an S class ninja would be visible at this close of a range.

He felt rather than heard the man run up behind him. His left leg betraying him as he attempted to spin and slice through his attacker's neck. He was too slow. The man hooked his arms under Kakashi's, linking his fingers behind the anbu's neck. Kakashi twisted free just in time to miss the senbon zipping towards his face. He rolled forwards as a wave of kunai hurtled out of the trees, burrowing deep into the ground he'd just occupied. Once again the clearing was empty. Kakashi drew a kunai from his pouch and stepped backwards. He was outnumbered, and as much as he hated to admit it, in no condition to fight.

Several more shuriken followed him, one by one thunking into the grass as he raced out of the way and broke into the tree line. His enemies' positions were still unclear to him. Running into the trees may have been a bad call, but remaining a sitting duck in an open field seemed more of a risk at the moment. He knew these woods well, and unless his enemy was an affiliate to the hidden leaf, he had the advantage.

Dashing further into the dense foliage, he pulled himself into a patch of thick shrubbery. Forcing his breath to slow, he began to dissect the situation.

It was possible that enemies had broken through the village gates, but unless they were at least S class shinobi the alarms would have been triggered. The likelihood of enemies getting through both Anbu and jonin guards were slim to none. If it was an outside force that would mean it would be small. Five at the very most. More likely…Kakashi's heart pounded sickeningly at the thought…More likely it was fellow leaf shinobi.

He placed a hand on the ground to steady himself. If it was hidden leaf nin that were after him, it wouldn't take them long to hunt him down. His best bet was to run straight for town, to the nearest populated area. The enemy had already shown they'd rather remain discrete. A busy street would make him impossible to target without being noticed by someone. But he still didn't know how many there were. That could pose a problem.

"Shadow clone jutsu" He muttered, his fingers flashing through hand signs as his clone dashed off into the woods. He waited ten seconds before slipping silently through the brush towards the nearest road.

If he remembered correctly, the nearest populated area was a backroad behind a small apartment complex. It wouldn't be highly populated but it connected to several more roads that passed directly through one of Konoha's main shopping districts. It would be a dangerous run there from the empty backroad, but it was his best chance. He traveled as quickly as he dared, opting for a slow methodical approach rather than risk the added noise brought by speed.

Suddenly he felt his shadow clone dissipate, memories slamming into him like a brick wall. There were six shinobi after him, judging by the speed and origin of their projectiles. His shadow clone hadn't seen any of them, so they didn't want to be identified. Not even by the target they meant to kill. Most likely, that could only mean one of two things. Either they were not leaf shinobi and could not risk being affiliated with their ninja village, or they were people he knew. Someone he could easily identify should he see their face.

A kunai whizzed past his head and thunked into a nearby tree. Forgetting any attempt at stealth Kakashi bolted, crashing through the trees and underbrush with renewed purpose.

He could sense them looming up behind him. Their presence like hands on his back, pressing against his body and propelling him forward. They were closing in.

Kakashi pushed his aching body harder, flinging several smoke bombs behind him in a half-hearted attempt to lay down cover. Light broke through the trees up ahead. Its blinding rays peaking hopefully through the thick vegetation. A senbon whizzed over his shoulder. Two more thwacked through the leaves of a thick bush. He was running out of time.

Sunlight assaulted his eyes as he burst through the foliage and onto the lonely road, the harder ground sending new spikes of pain radiating through his left thigh. Just a little further.

Shuriken followed in his wake, their blades twinkling in the sun like deadly shooting stars. He searched his mind for a quicker route, flinching to the right as a kunai ripped through the fabric of his anbu vest.

There! Another backroad, further away from the tree line. He ducked onto it, sprinting to the dead end and vaulting over the chainlink fence. The ground tipped steeply downhill, forcing him to slow his steps rather than tumble face first into the dirt.

Kakashi eye's brightened in relief as he careened past the backside of an old clothing shop. Not bothering to pause, he tore straight through the ally. A sharp whoosh of air shot past him as he ducked, shuriken pinging off the brick wall behind him.

Civilians yelped in surprise as he launched into the busy street. Ignoring their mumbled insults and dirty looks, he spun to face the empty alleyway behind him.

A few jonin walking past paused briefly to make sure there was no attack. Seeing nothing, they shrugged indifferently and continued on their way. It was well known that most anbu eventually snapped. The guy was probably imagining things.

The civilians skirted around him, casting nervous glances at the panting young anbu. Kakashi shook his head to regain his composure, attempting to calm the tide of rising anxiety. The attack had caught him at the worst possible time. When his defenses were down and his composure already shattered. He sighed in frustration, shoving the unease deep into the back of his mind. He was better than this. An anbu shouldn't have lost their composure like that.

 _'I'm a tool; tools don't feel.'_

He took a deep breath and forced himself to reassess.

The ally was empty, with no sign of pursuit. It seemed normal, as if the whole thing had been a dream. He reached up to brush the torn fabric of his vest. No. It definitely hadn't been a dream. An odd, watery, sort of wetness clung to the frayed material. He pulled his hand back, rubbing a thin purple liquid between his fingertips.

 _'Poison.'_

Hurriedly wiping them off on his pants, he checked to make sure the kunai had only torn fabric. He exhaled in relief as his fingers touched the smooth material of his shirt still intact. The composure he had lost was slowly returning to him, his mind closing the floodgates he hadn't the chance to seal at the memorial stone. He stuffed himself back into the security of his anbu box; into the unyielding law of the mission and the emotionless calculating his position required.

His eyes traveled back the way he had come. This wasn't just some random act of violence. It was too calculated. Too precise.

He wondered briefly if they were intruders from another village and only attacked him because he risked blowing their cover. He dismissed the thought almost immediately. They had gone to great lengths even to hide their faces from their target. Their secrecy was important enough to let him escape. Should they have fought unhindered, Kakashi was certain he would have been at the very least wounded, and if their weapons were poisoned, quite likely being forced into the ER by several of his peers. No, their target was not the village. Their target was himself.

Kakashi had certainly made many enemies over the years. This wasn't the first time someone within the village, or a visiting shinobi had targeted him. However, this was the first time it had been this well planned. This attack had been different. There was no anger in their assault. Killing intent, yes, but anger? No. The people who had attacked him were doing it under someone else orders. Someone, who apparently, wanted him dead.


	4. A Not So Restful Day Off

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did I'd be set for life and spend my days napping :)**

 **Author's Note: For those of you who read these THANK YOU! A big thanks to those of you who reviewed! deamon-of-light, thank you so much for your suggestions! I have edited chapters one through three. Hopefully the timeline makes a little more sense now. A big thanks also to hatakekakashi7 for your encouragement! It gave me the extra push to finish chapter four. If you guys haven't noticed yet, if you review I will give you a shout out in my author's note, so PLEASE REVIEW.**  
 **To be honest, not sure how I like this chapter, It really gave me a hard time, hence the long wait for the update. Let me know what you guys think and I hope you enjoy!**

Lone Wolves Don't Last Long 

Chapter Four: A Not So Restful Day Off

Kakashi POV

 _"Kakashi…"_

 _Rin's face, pale wide-eyed and quivering hovered ominously in front of him. Her voice whispered his name, the words barely making it past her blood stained lips._

 _"Kakashi…" The voice grew angrier, louder. The accusation ripped through Kakashi like a kunai through the heart._

 _"Kakashi!" The voice turned to a growl, thunderously loud, the anger smashing down around him._

...

"KAKASHI!"

He jerked upright, throwing off the blankets and nearly tumbling out of bed in his panic. His chest heaved against his sweat-soaked shirt, fists trembling as the beat of his heart drummed through his body. It took him a moment to remember where he was. The chipping paint on the walls, the shuriken patterned comforter, his mission report left unfinished on his tiny desk. It had been a dream.

He stared down at his hands, numbly assessing the sweat shining on his palms.

BANG BANG BANG

"KAKASHI!"

His head snapped towards the door, the thud of his heart begging to slow to a dull throb.

 _'Seriously?'_

"I, THE BEAUTIFUL GREEN BEAST OF KONOHA, HAVE COME TO CHALLENGE YOU, MY ETERNAL RIVAL, IN THE SPRINGTIME OF OUR YOUTH, TO A GLORIOUS BATTLE OF STRENGTH!"

Kakashi threw himself back down on the bed and drew an elbow over his eyes.

 _'I don't have time for this.'_  
Maybe, just maybe, if he ignored him long enough, Guy may take his youthful exploits elsewhere. Kakashi squeezed his eyes shut, shifting uncomfortably as the fabric of his T-shirt clung to his skin.

" _KAKASHI!_ "

THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP!

Kakashi made a small noise of discontent, pulling one of his pillows over his face.

"Go away!"

BANG BANG BANG BANG!

Kakashi growled in annoyance and lumbered slowly towards the front door.

He began releasing the wards and traps, precautions he had put in place after his encounter the day before. Well, at least some of them. Most of his friends thought he was paranoid. Maybe he was. But the way Kakashi saw it, when you're in the Bingo Book, it's the paranoid people that live.

"KA-"

Kakashi opened the door sharply, cutting off Guy's pounding fist mid-bang. He stood staring blankly at his rival, deciding it wasn't worth saying anything. Guy would do all the talking anyway.

"MY ETERNAL RIVAL! WHY DOES IT APPEAR I HAVE ROUSED YOU FROM THE DARKNESS OF UN-YOUTHFUL SLUMBER?!"

Kakashi continued to stare unblinking at the obnoxious young man standing on his doormat. If he proceeded to yell much longer he was going to wake the neighbors. Kakashi sighed inwardly.

"THIS WILL NOT DO, MY MOST GLORIOUS RIVAL! I CHALLENGE YOU TO A RACE ON OUR HANDS BACKWARDS UP TO THE HOKAGE MONU-"

Kakashi, seeing as he had no intention of excepting Guy's ridiculous challenge at four thirty in the morning on his day off, and finding the one-sided conversation supremely boring, casually stepped back and shut the door in his face.

"-MENT…Ka-…KAKASHI! THAT IS SO UN-YOUTHFUL! WHY DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO ACT SO COOL!?"

Kakashi quickly replaced the wards and reset the traps guarding the perimeter. Guy was continuing to yell outside his door, the grumbles of his neighbors and footsteps in the adjacent flats begging to respond to Guy's persistent and ridiculous level of volume.

Ignoring his friend's protests, Kakashi walked shakily to the kitchen, his breath still coming unevenly from his nightly torture session. It was the same dream. Every night. Not that there weren't others, sure there were others, but somehow it always came back to Rin. Back to her pale face, her wide brown eyes…his hand lodged deep inside her chest cavity.

His fingers darted forward to send water flooding into the kitchen sink. He let it stream over his skin in a hopeless attempt to rinse away the memory. Rubbing his thumbs over his palms, he forced himself to take a deep breath.

He couldn't say that it was just a dream. He wished he could; wished he could claim sanctuary in reality. But he couldn't. He _had_ killed Rin. It wasn't just some figment of his imagination, his worst fears coming out to plague him at night. No. He had. He had killed his teammate.

His breath began to rasp in the back of his throat, his lungs beginning to ache. He scrubbed harder, willing the memory of her blood to disappear, wishing he could somehow clean his hands so well it would erase the past, rinse away time and let him try again. He-

 _'Calm down.'_

Kakashi shoved his head under the faucet, letting the freezing water rush over the back of his neck.

 _'Calm down. Tools don't feel.'_

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Guy's pounding had finally stopped, his voice echoing down the hall as he gave up on his eternal rival accepting his challenge, "I shall be at training ground three if you change your mind!" And with that his presence began to dissipate, his chakra signature growing fainter as he descended the stairs.

Kakashi turned off the water and took a deep breath. He needed to get a hold of himself. He had pressing matters to handle today and not much time to look into them.

Originally he had planned to train with team Ro today. Those plans had changed after the previous day's excitement. Being assaulted in one's own village, though not a new sensation for the young Hatake, was certainly not a comfortable feeling. Especially whilst his enemy obviously had intel on him and he had nothing to go off of but a few drops of dried poison remaining on his uniform and the memory of nondescript weaponry. Kakashi ran a hand through his hair and growled in frustration.

A growing knot of anxiety was beginning to roil under his skin. Every small noise made his hand twitch, every soft breeze made his shoulders tense. It was as if he were still in the field. Like he was being hunted through enemy territory. A mouse preparing for the fox to finally pounce.

Kakashi had sent in a request for his team to take a day off, alerting the rest of his comrades to the change in schedule later the previous evening. He hadn't provided them with an explanation, figuring whatever excuse they thought up would be far more believable than any lie he could contrive on such short notice.

Their response to Kakashi's obvious discomfort during training had suddenly become an asset. Most days their worrying would have been exceptionally irritating. However today, it was probably the best turn of events that Kakashi could have hoped for.

Along with the time to investigate, his team would most likely leave him to himself, opting to let him take the day to rest rather than try to drag him out of his, as Taro would put it, "Boring old man apartment."

He couldn't tell them about the incident, at least not yet.

Granted, it was serious. An organized attack meant planning and planning typically wasn't something that your everyday group of enraged shinobi did well. Most likely, they were working for someone, their emotions separate from the target. They had to have done research or at least have known about his most recent mission.

Waiting until he was alone and wounded to make their move had been smart. If Kakashi hadn't known the area so well, they probably would have succeeded. It was quite possible that these were the same shinobi who had pursued him on his last mission. It was equally as possible that it had been fellow shinobi in the village who were aware of his current status. Honestly, Kakashi anticipated the later. It would have been difficult for enemy anbu to infiltrate the Leaf. Not impossible, but difficult. It would probably be even more challenging for the enemy shinobi to get back _out_. Sure the alarms wouldn't be set to go off for shinobi leaving, but they'd have to avoid both border surveillance and the shinobi in the village. Let alone the massive amounts of civilians. It would be far easier for leaf shinobi to have pulled off the attack. Whether they were working for someone within the Hidden Leaf however, was a different story.

Of course, Kakashi had his suspicions already, but he wasn't willing to voice them without solid proof. The consequences of alerting his mother hen of a sensei to a pack of murderous shinobi headed his way may produce some undesirable results. Minato's awareness of his…situation, could easily result in a sudden and total loss of freedom that Kakashi was just not willing to accept.

He had raised himself from the age of six. He'd been almost completely self-reliant since the age of five. He could take care of himself.

Besides, in situations like this, there was always a high chance of death or injury. Not knowing your enemy is a dangerous place to be. The fewer people Kakashi associated with his problem, the fewer comrades would be in harm's way. The moment his team became aware of the threat or found a link to its origin, would almost certainly place a target on their backs. Kakashi had been in this situation enough times to know what to expect. He wouldn't put their lives in danger for the sake of his own. He'd had enough of others sacrificing themselves for him. He would not live with the guilt of knowing another comrade had died for him. Not again.

* * *

Tenzo POV

"Ughhhhhhh, I'm so _bored_!" Whined Taro, swinging to hang upside down from his tree branch, a long piece of grass twiddling between his teeth.

"Then maybe you should find something more productive to do than stalk me all day." Tenzo muttered absentmindedly inspecting the edge of the kunai he'd just been sharpening.

"Mah, I didn't make any plans this morning because I thought we'd be training. But _no_ , Taichou just _had_ to go and ask Hokage-sama for the day off! He totally screwed up my whole day!"

"No one is stopping you from training." Tenzo retorted stowing his kunai and beginning to work on his shuriken.

"But we totally could have decimated Kakashi Taichou today!" He pouted, his lower lip poking out, pushing the long blade of grass down towards his inverted nose.

Tenzo glanced up ruefully, "You know, this obsession you have with destroying your captain is kind of disturbing."

Just then voices floated over from the sidewalk across the street.

"I TRIED, BUT MY ETERNAL RIVAL WOULD NOT LISTEN. THE POWER OF YOUTH SHOULD KNOW NO BOUNDS! HE MUST EMBRACE THE FLAME OF HIS YOUTH!"

"Guy, how early exactly did you try to wake him up?" Asuma asked.

"THE MOMENT THE CRIMSON RAYS OF SUNLIGHT BEGAN TO MAKE THEIR WAY TOWARDS THE HORIZON I-" Guy began, making his two companions cringe.

"So what like four thirty or five?" Asuma cut him off.

"Tch- I would have done worse than shut the door in your face." Kurenai grumbled crossing her arms and turning up her nose.

The group continued past them, unbeknownst to the two anbu lounging against the nearby tree.

"Ha!" Taro laughed linking his fingers behind his neck, "Serve's Taichou right for ditching us last minute."

Tenzo shook his head and sighed, he wasn't sure what to think about Kakashi's sudden change of heart. Tenzo somehow found it difficult to believe that Kakashi would take a day off for health reasons, unless of course he really couldn't get out of bed. Yesterday's training session had been a testament to that.

It's possible that Kakashi really had taken a day off to rest. Most of his days off, he claimed that he spent trying to catch up on his sleep. Maybe he had been telling the truth.

His mind flicked back to the expression on his face. The empty smile and sudden departure the previous day.

Tenzo felt horrible. He should have gone after him. He should have told him he wasn't to blame, even if it seemed so blatantly obvious. Kakashi, since Tenzo had known him, had always carried around unnecessary guilt.

He thought back again to those blank eyes. The dull smile before he disappeared. He had already avoided the team for weeks. It wasn't hard to assume that he must be avoiding them again. Tenzo sighed.

"What?" Taro asked

Tenzo shrugged, "Nothing."

 _'Nothing at all, Just Kakashi senpai's incredible guilt complex starting to make me question my sanity.'_

* * *

Kakashi POV

Kakashi stood outside the old door, dimly lit in the underground halls of Anbu headquarters. He sighed and placed his hand on the knob.

He'd have to risk the chance of questions being asked. Although medic-nin in the anbu were far less nosy than medic-nin in the main forces, their curiosity could pose a threat to Kakashi's plan. He shrugged. There was no helping it. This was the clearest step to tracing his attackers.

Pushing open the door to the medical unit's lab, he knocked on the doorframe as he entered.

A slight woman in her mid-twenties looked up from her microscope, pushing her short cropped black hair out of her eyes.

"Hatake." She said standing to greet him, "I think this is the first time we've met when you haven't been bleeding."

"Nara-san." Kakashi greeted with a nod, "I have a favor to ask."

"Well that's a first, you seeking medical attention on your own free will." She leaned over to scrawl a few observations in her already full notebook, the words spilling into the margins.

"No, not that." Kakashi interjected handing her the vest, "I'd like to get this analyzed."

The young woman's face twitched into a frown as she inspected the tear across the shoulder, looking closer at the slight purple tinge on the gray fabric.

"You want to know what kind of poison this is?"

"Hai," He nodded, "when's the soonest you can get the results?"

She rubbed her chin thoughtfully and looked back up, if it's something we've recently documented, maybe as early as this evening, otherwise it may take several days."

He nodded and turned to leave, "Thanks, let me know what you find out."

Her hand snapped out to grab his wrist, wrapping around it like a vice.

His shoulders tightened, right hand unconsciously dropping towards his weapons pouch.

"Wait…Care to explain how this happened? You've been off active duty for over a week. I didn't think you were going back on the mission roster for at least the next five days."

 _'Crap'_

He didn't turn around, "It's not mine." He lied, praying that she'd buy it, "One of my subordinates went on a mission while I was on leave. I needed to come to HQ anyway. I'm doing him a favor."

She sighed and dropped his wrist, "Fine. I'll let you know what I find when the results get back."

Quickly thanking her, he made to exit the room, hoping beyond hope that his lie held up, at least until he knew the results.

This had been the easy part. What came next would prove far more challenging. He needed to see his medical files.

Typically if a patient wanted access to his medical history he need only ask. But the anbu's files were kept locked separately from the rest of the shinobi force. Their histories were considered highly classified. Access to any one of those documents had to be granted directly from the Hokage himself.

Kakashi was sure that Minato would have a few questions as to why his student wanted to see them. Especially considering Minato's general belief that Kakashi seemed to lack any and all concern for his own physical wellbeing.

That would mean breaking in. He'd done it once before while the Sandaime was still in power. However, considering that the third appeared shortly thereafter, Kakashi had been fairly certain that he had known the whole time.

He'd have to make an attempt. Either that or he'd have to come up with a valid excuse to make the request without creating suspicion. Either way, the chances of success would be slim, and he'd need some time to plan. He would have to wait until the shift change this evening. That would give him a good nine hours to strategize. Hopefully, his chances would seem a little more promising after some time to think.

* * *

Tenzo POV

The sun had finally finished sinking beneath the horizon, the thin crescent moon rising slowly to take its place in the darkened sky. It had taken him too long to convince himself to come.

Tenzo stood at the entrance to Kakashi's apartment complex, staring apprehensively up at the pale cracking walls of the old building. He never really understood why Kakashi had chosen to live here. It was a nice complex, all things considered. A little old but well kept and in a quiet part of town. However, Kakashi had supposedly inherited the entirety of the Hatake Clan's compound. It had apparently been abandoned for years now. At least, long enough for the younger generations to start telling ghost stories about it.

It struck him now, as it often did, how little Tenzo really knew about his Senpai. He had been so immersed in the Root organization for so long that he had to spend these past two years playing catch up with the history of his own village. The Hatake clan was rarely mentioned if at all in most history books. The only Hatake that Tenzo had ever heard about was Kakashi's late father, the White Fang. His story, Tenzo knew. It was hard not to. Kakashi was still looked at with disdain by a large majority of the village for his father's part in the war. He was their scapegoat. An outlet for their pain. It made Tenzo sick just thinking about it.

However, aside from the one mission and the fact that he died, Tenzo knew very little about him. Tenzo often assumed that Kakashi's main reason for refusing to live in the complex was an attempt to spare himself some of the angst of the village, by trying to separate himself from the object of their hatred. But truthfully, Tenzo didn't know. Kakashi was his best friend, and he didn't know.

Tenzo, sighed and made his way towards the building and up the first flight of stairs.

He was going to smack some sense into his captain. Crow's death was not a result of Kakashi's failure to carry the entire team on his shoulders. Crow's death had been, as terrible as it was, an occupational hazard. It came with the territory of being an Anbu. Crow's death was a result of the man's own decision to take the mission. A result of his choice to refuse to leave his captain behind. The failure to save him from that decision was on the entirety of team Ro.

Climbing the last flight of stairs, Tenzo made his way down the hall to the second to last door, the three hundred and twelve beginning to rust around the edges.

He took a deep breath and knocked, "Senpai?"

He waited a moment…then a moment longer…No response.

He knocked again, "Senpai? Senpai, are you home?"

Still, no response.

Suddenly a door creaked open on Tenzo's left, the civilian tenant turning to lock the door behind him.

"Excuse me, sir?" The man stopping and looked down at him, "Do you know if Hatake-san is in?" Tenzo asked, pointing to the door.

The old man nodded in annoyance, "Yeah, heard him get in a few hours ago. Kid was making a hell of a racket." Tenzo frowned as the man turned to leave, waiting until he descended the first few stairs to pound on the old wood door.

"Oy! Kakashi! Stop ignoring me, open up!" Kakashi remained silent. Tenzo stopped to listen, realizing for the first time that he could hear water running faintly from inside the flat.

 _'Maybe he's in the shower.'_

Tenzo laid his hand on the doorknob in frustration, leaning his weight on the smooth dull brass. Without warning, Tenzo's hand slipped, nearly dumping him on the ground as the knob turned and the door swung open. Tenzo's jaw went slack in disbelief. Ever since he had first met Kakashi, even whilst Tenzo was still in Root, he had never once forgotten to lock and seal his door. Not once.

"Ka…Kakashi?"

Tenzo stepped into the room, the only light emanating from a small lamp beside the entrance.

The room was in shambles, bookcases toppled over and furniture overturned. Kakashi's weapons lay scattered on the floor, intermingled with shredded bit's of couch cushion and scattered pages of an unfinished mission report.

"Kakashi!"

Tenzo stepped into the room, picking his way across the destruction, a far cry from the almost obsessive tidiness that the Hatake perpetually left in his wake.

Making his way into the kitchen, he squinted to find the light switch. The room was nearly pitch black, leaving Tenzo to grope blindly at the walls until his fingers found their target. He crashed into what he assumed to be the kitchen table, turning to promptly trip over something on the floor. Falling to his hands and knees, his hands slid in something wet as they hit the tile. The sound of running water was louder in here. As he reached for the counter to pull himself up, one of his hands bumped into the kitchen sink, fingers skimming the steady stream of water pouring from the faucet. He groped for the tap, attempting to staunch the flow.

Fingers finally reaching their target, he pushed the handle down, casting the room into eery silence.

Scrambling to his feet Tenzo felt frantically for a light switch, his hands trailing hurriedly across the wall.

At last, he found the protrusion he'd been searching for. With a click, the room was flooded with warm golden light. His eyes squinted shut, the sudden change searing into his skull. He waited a moment before reopening them, blinking as he registered his face was mere inches from the plain yellow drywall.

Looking down he- "Gah!"…His hands were covered in blood.

Reeling back, he tripped over the unknown object again, sprawling backwards into the kitchen table and sending it screeching backwards across the tile. He opened his eyes.

…He had tripped over Kakashi.

…Over Kakashi, unconscious in a pool of blood.


	5. Unexpected Guests

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

 **Author's Note: Hi all! Thank you so much for your continued support! A big shout out once again to deamon-of-light, thank you for your critiques! and also a big shout out to tabjoy13, thanks so much for your reviews they are very much appreciated! Plus if you guys are looking for new reading material, you should check out tabjoy13's work, it's awesome!**

 **I know I say this almost every chapter, but I really struggled with this one. I'm still debating scratching this chapter and redoing it all together, so please let me know what you think.**

 **Sorry, it got a little depressing this time around but I promise some warm and fuzzies very soon! As always, remember if you leave a review I will give you a shout out. Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoy.**

Lone Wolves Don't Last Long

Chapter Five: Unexpected Guests

9 Hours Ago…

Kakashi stood with his back pressed against the cool drywall, peering around the corner to get a better look at the door to the records room.

He was pleasantly surprised he had made it this far without being detected. An odd sort of satisfaction bubbled up inside him, an unrighteous sense of accomplishment from knowing he'd snuck past his sensei and fellow anbu members.

Opening his sharingan, he checked to make sure he hadn't been followed. The halls around him were empty, devoid of anything besides a few ugly paintings and one potted plant badly in need of watering.

He looked back to his target, nestled snuggly between the two stiff-backed anbu, their eyes roving down the empty hallway.

It was nearing the end of the shift, the tired eyes starting to relax as they assumed the rest of their watch would be uneventful. Despite what most thought, it was easier to slide by just before the shift change than during the actual swap. The last few moments of a shift was when shinobi most often let their guard down. When they assumed nothing would happen in the next two minutes, just like nothing had happened their entire shift. That line of thinking was what got shinobi killed. Even so, it was a fault nearly every soldier had. Everyone let their guard down eventually, some without even realizing it.

Besides, staring down an empty hallway for hours was like repeating the same word a hundred times. Somewhere along the way, the word becomes a meaningless noise, just as the hallway becomes an empty void.

Kakashi smirked as the man nearest to him yawned, shifting his weight from his right foot to his left.

He had picked the right time for this. These guys were rookies, new to the anbu and undisciplined in their vigilance. It was to be expected. Though Jonin often were put on guard duty in the field, many failed to realize the active threat prevalent in their own village. It had always been the Anbu's responsibility to guard their village's secrets and to protect their vital points. New members of the Anbu learned fairly quickly the importance of keeping themselves on their toes.

Fortunately for Kakashi, these two had yet to learn that lesson. Although the captain in him begged to correct their incompetence, his self-appointed mission took precedent.

Opening his sharingan he cast a subtle genjutsu on the watchmen, allowing their minds to show them exactly what they expected to see, an empty hallway and a slowly ticking clock.

Forming a few hand signs Kakashi's chakra surged, muffling any noise he made as he crept down the hall.

He moved to ease himself in-between the two men, carefully reaching for the knob. Turning it slowly, he lifted the door as he pushed, stopping the resounding squeak that would surely have destroyed his weak genjutsu.

Just a little further.

Shifting cautiously to slide through the door, he stepped inside, closing it behind him with an almost inaudible click.

He turned to face the door, a single hand sign lifting the illusion from his fellow anbu.

The easy part was over. From here on out he was on shaky ground.

Stepping further into the dimly lit room he roved throughout the maze of metal file drawers, eyes scanning the seemingly endless lines of labels.

Finally, his eyes locked on his target. The label of the Anbu Medical Records drawer beginning to fade on the slowly disintegrating label.

His fingers traced the handle, pulling the drawer out slowly to avoid the squeak of overuse that he was certain would come.

His fingers flipped through the sea of manilla. Each name his hand passed over made him feel heavier somehow. There were so many _missing_.

This wasn't the first time he'd paged through this drawer. It wouldn't be the last. It was often his duty as a member of the Hokage's personal Anbu to deliver classified documents to his commander. If Minato sensei needed access to a classified document, it was almost always a member of the anbu who would retrieve it for him. The last time he'd opened this file there had been at least ten names in the 'A' section alone that were now missing. Their files had been replaced, fresh names scrawled across the tops of new thin folders.

His thumb paged through the 'H' section, finally landing on his target. He drew the thick file out, flipping straight to the back of the stuffed and slowly tearing folder. His eyes skimmed through the latest report, stopping at the mention of poison.

Kakashi grimaced. The poison was derived from a plant called spreading yew. The plant he knew it well, it was native to The Land of Fire. The particular poison used on him had been enhanced with chakra, elevating its potency and making it harder to extract. Aside from that, it left a reference number, "…See file B2 1574".

He opened his sharingan a moment, memorizing the page before quickly redepositing his file, sliding the drawer closed with a whispery click.

6 Hours Ago…

"Come _on_ Tenzo! Let it _go_." Taro shoved Tenzo playfully from the side, turning to walk backwards in front of him.

"I have." Tenzo broke out of his train of thought, looking up at the knowing smirk of Anbu Coon.

"Good. Then we can go get dango." Taro turned to continue his stroll, now in the direction of the sweet shop, "Your treat."

Tenzo snorted, "No." But he followed his teammate despite himself. He would check on his captain later. Perhaps Taro was right. Maybe he was making too much of this.

4 Hours Ago…

Kakashi trudged slowly towards his apartment, his shoulders drooping as his hands burrowed their way deeper into his pockets. His mind poured over the information he had gathered. It was like trying to solve an imaginary puzzle with only three edge pieces. There were too many options of what could fit in-between. Too many scenarios to be perfectly sure. The silver-haired anbu sighed. He knew he hadn't nearly been discreet enough. His team would guess something was the matter. He would need to formulate a believable lie and he didn't have much more time to do so. Especially if Tenzo had already succumbed to his worrying and gone to check in on his captain.

Kakashi's original plan had just been to play along with whatever scenario Tenzo had deduced from his afternoon of nail-biting. However, Tenzo's conclusion may result in problems as well. He needed a backup just in case his subordinate's conclusion was one that would hinder his objective.

"OY! KAKASHI!"

Kakashi groaned inwardly at the familiar ear splitting greeting. Without changing his pace, he stepped into a nearby alley, fingers flipping through hand signs as he whispered, "Shadow clone jutsu."

His duplicate continued down the alley, hands in his pockets as though nothing had changed. Kakashi sprang onto the rooftop, continuing his march over the shingles towards home. He couldn't accept a challenge from Guy. Not today. He needed time to sift through his thoughts.

His retreat from the records room had left him with more questions than answers. He wished he could go to the memorial stone. Talk it over with Obito. But after the previous days' adventures, the prospect seemed ridiculous. He couldn't open himself up to an attack. Isolated areas were a bad call.

He briefly considered visiting Rin and immediately dropped the idea. Not many visited the graveyard during the week. It would be too easy for something to happen again. Until his system recovered fully from the poison and his leg was able to heal completely, he would be weak. He couldn't risk it.

Sighing to himself, he allowed the memories of his teammates to swallow him. Rin's gentle smile and warm eyes. Her laugh as Obito arrived late with some stupid excuse. Her calming hand on his shoulder as his eyes blazed at the Uchiha's blatant lack of decorum. Obito's massive grin and boisterous laugh. His rumpled clothing and pockets crinkling with empty candy wrappers.

He wouldn't drag his team into the fire with him. Not again. This mess was his own. He could take care of it himself.

3 Hours Ago…

Guy had been persistent. Kakashi's shadow clone had only fooled him for so long, forcing the anbu captain to detour halfway around the village to avoid his spandex wearing compatriot. As far as he knew, Guy was still chasing the false trail he had laid half an hour ago.

Kakashi dragged himself up the last flight of stairs, sighing contentedly as his feet stepped onto the final landing. The hall was quiet, the setting sun casting a pinkish light across the bone colored walls and heavy green doors. He sauntered to the end of the hall, pulling his key out of his back pocket and inserting it into the lock whilst placing his left palm against the door. The flow of chakra hummed through his fingertips as he channeled it into the seals, effectively disengaging his security measures. With the ease of repetition, his right hand twisted the key, deadbolt receding with a resounding clunk. Home at last.

Shouldering the door open, he dropped his keys onto the entryway table. The familiar clatter of metal against wood penetrated the darkening room.

...

Something was off.

Kakashi stilled, his right hand freezing midway to the doorknob and instead, moving slowly to rest above his open weapons pouch.

The room was too quiet.

Something about the air felt…constrictive. Like an invisible force was stretching it taught, ready to snap at a moments notice.

Kakashi's chakra flared, rushing through the room in search of intruders.

…There was nothing.

His fingers rose to his headband, beginning to lift the fabric from Obito's concealed eye.  
Something in the corner of the room glittered, Kakashi ducking just in time to miss the kunai aimed for his hand.

The door behind him slammed shut, muscular arms reaching to wrap around his neck from behind.

Kakashi kicked back, rolling out from under the man's grasp and into the middle of the room.

Two men loomed in front of him, dark robes shielding their features from view. Their faces were obscured in shadow, resulting in the illusion of the shinobi being headless. Darkness itself seeming to peer from under the thick folds of cloth.

Kakashi's eye drank them in, gathering nothing. Their cloaks were like a wall, obscuring their movements, muffling their stances. He raised a hand to his left eye once more, the movement stopped by a hand reaching from behind, thick fingers closing around his wrist.

On reflex, he twisted, jamming his shoulder into the man's stomach as he ducked and launched him over his back and into the sofa with a crash. A table lamp careened to the floor, glass shattering across the hardwood as the arm of the couch smacked violently into the rickety side table.

Kakashi swung around, kunai slicing across one man's approaching chest. Another cloaked figure grabbed the anbu captain by the shirt, pulling him back before he could deal extensive damage to his comrade.

He wrenched himself out of the man's grip, his hand wielding the kunai whipping out to slice down the back of the reaching hand. In the same fluid motion, he flung it at one of his enemies approaching faces. The man ducked launching forward to aim a punch at the Hatake's gut, the small space forcing him to leap back in the direction of his enemies counterparts.

Kakashi fingers grabbed for his shuriken, flicking them expertly into his approaching attackers as a strong hand took a fistful of his silver hair, hauling him back towards the kitchen.

Kakashi growled, chakra prickling up his spine as electricity coated his body, instantly rendering his assailant unconscious.

He was running out of options. The unlucky man whom he'd shocked remained limp on the floor. His wraithlike counterparts approached, two of them stepping over the downed man's prone figure as if he were a useless piece of broken furniture.

Five enemies in total littered the room. One sprawled uselessly on the floor, the other four threading their way around the room, cutting off any available exit.

Almost all of his ninjutsu were off the table, their effects two large or too destructive to be used in close proximity to his oblivious civilian neighbors. In all likelihood, his attackers had used a silencing seal around his home's perimeter. None of his neighbors had barged in yet, so the cloaked figures must have done something.

A silencing seal would only do so much, but it would muffle the noise enough to pass for some of Guy's weekly antics. No one would be coming.

Kakashi reached up to uncover Obito's eye once more, an enemy Kunai whizzing past his face and ricocheting off the metal plate of his glove. Finally ripping off the headband, his right hand crackled to life.

"Raikiri!"

Racing forwards, he dove his hand into the nearest nin's chest, rolling with the crumpling body over the shards of lightbulb scattered across the floor. He tore his arm out, leaping back into the bookcases, kicking an incoming shinobi hard in the gut.

As the next figure raced forwards, Kakashi's hand shot forwards, Raikiri chirping as he launched it into his attacker. The man collapsed, raising his blade to drag down the anbu's side as he careened to the floor. One of the tall bookcases crashed to the ground as the man's lifeless body slapped into the old wooden shelves.

The remaining two robed figures seemed to freeze, reassessing their pray as the anbu stared them down.

It was strange. Even with his sharingan, he couldn't read their chakra. It was as if their energy were translucent, blending into the very air he was breathing.

 _'Is this…some kind of jutsu?'_

Kakashi's right hand unconsciously moved to his bleeding side. His ribs were beginning to tingle, an odd sort of numbness spreading across his torso. Poison. Poison but not the same as before. He was already beginning to feel the fatigue pulling at him, his vision threatening to blur out of focus. He needed to finish this quickly.

His sharingan began to spin, locking onto the deep shadows under the robed figures hoods.

One of them froze instantly, the other's head snapped down as he turned to avoid the genjutsu. Kakashi snatched up a handful of shuriken, sending them flying for the ducking man across the room.

Suddenly, a kunai shot out from behind the intruders. The anbu saw it one second too late, the drug slowing Kakashi's reflexes as he attempted to block. The weapon hissed through empty space, hurtling into his gut.

There were six. He'd miscounted.

2 Hours Ago…

"Kakashi!" Tenzo propped the limp form of his captain up against the kitchen cabinets.

"Common Senpai, _wake up_." Two bloody fingers found their way to his captain's throat, pressing hard in search for a pulse. It was there, weaker than it should have been, but it was there. Tenzo released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

Grabbing the Hatake's lifeless shoulders, he sent a pulse of chakra into his system.

Kakashi's right leg jerked up as if stung, his eyes flashing open as he jolted on reflex out of Tenzo's supporting hands.

"Kakashi! What happened?" Tenzo pulled a few rolls of bandages from his weapons pouch, grabbing his captain by the shirt before he could fall over sideways.

The silver-haired captain looked up, first relief than frustration flashing across his tired eyes. As soon as the emotion had surfaced it was gone, replaced by the stone cold visage of anbu Wolf.

"Ambush." He answered simply, shaking fingers pulling his shirt up to inspect his blood smeared skin.

Tenzo cringed inwardly at the deep gouge in the Hatake's stomach, blood still flowing freely from the open wound and down onto the tile.

Kakashi leaned his head back against the cabinets, pushing Tenzo's hands away from his wounds. Shivering blood stained fingers took the bandages from Tenzo's frantic hands.

"Senpai-" Kakashi cut him off.

"Headband Tenzo." He ground out, eyes squeezed shut as he began to wrap the gauze around his own midsection, pulling it taught as his teeth clenched together in discomfort.

Tenzo sighed in frustration, hurrying away from his captain and into his superior's tiny bedroom.

Opening the door, Tenzo found it as he remembered. Pristine, everything in its place. It was like walking into a different dimension, as if there was no way this room could belong to the destruction outside its door. He shook the feeling off and forced his body back into action.

Opening the man's closet he grabbed a strip of black cloth from the box of civvies on the bottom shelf. It would have to do. Tenzo was certainly not going to search through the destruction to find the missing article. He needed to get his captain out of here. He didn't have much time before his organs would start to fail.

Rushing back into the kitchen he knelt down next to his captain. Kakashi's breathing was too shallow, coming in quick pained gasps as he attempted to wrap the bandage around behind him, swaying dangerously as he leaned away from the support of the old wooden cabinets.

Tenzo took the bandage from his shaking hand, replacing it with the strip of black cloth.

"Thanks" Kakashi whispered, lifting his quivering arms to tie the fabric over his left eye. He hissed softly as the slice along his side stretched in protest.

Tenzo took the opportunity to pull the bandage taught, wrapping Kakashi's midsection in a vice grip. The Hatake's teeth ground together, a soft noise between a gasp and a snarl escaping from his throat.

Tenzo ignored him, finishing off the binding with a final tug and taking an emergency flare out of his weapons pouch. Kakashi's lone eye was squeezed shut, a thin veil of sweat settling over his deathly white skin. He needed to hurry.

Tenzo rose, starting as Kakashi's hand shot out and grabbed his pant leg.

"Don't." Kakashi groaned.

Tenzo turned to stare at him, incredulous, "At a time like this? Really Kakashi?"

"I can't…" He whispered, fingers tightening around the dark fabric. Kakashi's right eye cracked open. Tenzo could see the fight for control, the slowly failing wall of indifference. A sliver of fear had made its way into the Anbu's gray eye, his white-knuckle grip reflecting the shadow of terror behind the seemingly detached facade, "Please."

Tenzo froze for a moment, staring blankly down at the crumpled bleeding form of his captain. With a sigh of frustration he put the flare away, leaning down to pull his senpai's arm across his shoulders, "One of these days senpai, you're going to have to get over your fear of hospitals."

Tenzo's stomach dropped at the way Kakashi's ankles folded on the ground, unable to fully get his legs underneath him, "Either that or you're going to need to seriously consider a career change."

A soft humorless chuckle rose from the Hatake, the sound sending a chill down the back of Tenzo's neck, "To what?"

Tenzo thought for a moment, situating his captain's weight more firmly across his own back, "A librarian?"

Kakashi chuckled for real this time, attempting deliriously to walk as Tenzo hauled him from the kitchen and towards the front door.

Suddenly, the Hatake's head snapped up, "Where are the bodies?"

"What bodies?" Tenzo glanced down at Kakashi, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"The bodies, I…two of them got hit with Raikiri…there should be…"

"Kakashi, if you hit someone with Raikiri there'd be blood everywhere. The only blood in this apartment is your own."

Kakashi's eye widened, "I…There were six…" As if someone had pressed a button, the Hatake's eye rolled back, dead weight falling heavily onto Tenzo's supporting arm.

1 Hour and 30 Minutes Ago…

Tenzo knew this was a bad idea before he even left Kakashi's apartment. Senpai was going to kill him. But he couldn't think of a better scenario, at least not one that didn't involve Kakashi being forced into a hospital bed, or bleeding out before Tenzo could formulate a better solution.

He had never known Aki very well. The few times he'd met her had been when Tenzo came to collect Haruki for a summons from the Hokage. Haruki had never talked much about his wife's history, aside from the fact they had both been in the medical field. All he knew was Crow's home had been Kakashi's medical checkpoint. He'd have to take the chance that Aki would be able and willing to help.

Tenzo raised his foot to knock, hands occupied with the limp, bleeding form of his captain. He kicked harder than he had anticipated, the door shivering against the hurried taps of Tenzo's heel.

A few lights flicked on at the continued noise, the sound of someone tripping and a muffled curse word seeping under the doorway as the occupant approached.

The door swung open ruffly, Aki, half asleep and decidedly irritated, rested her elbow lazily against the door frame. Haruki's old undershirt hung loosely from her thin arms, the effect something like a little girl playing dress up in her father's clothes. Tenzo's throat clenched.

"Can I help-" Her voice cut off as she actually looked at the two figures huddled on her doorstep, "Cat! Bring him in, bring him in!"

She stepped aside to make room for the young Anbu as he shuffled awkwardly over the threshold, grateful for the woman's aid as she pulled Kakashi's other arm across her shoulders.

"What happened? Are you alright?"

"I'm not sure." Tenzo admitted, helping her tow his lifeless captain down the hall, "He wasn't awake enough to tell me…his apartment looked like a war zone."

Aki's lips pressed into a thin line, her concern evident in her wide brown eyes.

"Put him there." She ordered, leaving Tenzo to lower his friend down onto the living room sofa.

The sound of running water hissed from the kitchen, "How long has he been like this?"

"I have no idea." Tenzo answered, reaching to check his captain's pulse once more, "Couldn't have been too long or he would have been dead when I found him."

Aki hustled around the couch, carrying a small leather case. She opened it, grabbed a scalpel and began to cut through the Hatake's blood-soaked shirt and bandages, "And you?"

"I'm fine. Wasn't a part of the action."

She nodded, "Finish this for me." She ordered, handing Tenzo the scalpel and placing her chakra covered hands over the gouge in the Hatake's abdomen, "We need to work quickly."

Present…

Kakashi woke to the sound of hushed voices.

"-lost a lot of blood but he should be okay in a couple of days."

"I'm going to step out for a minute, let me know when he wakes up."

Footsteps receded down the hall, the squeak of the front door opening piercing the headache behind the Hatake's closed eyes.

He let out a long exhale of air, trying in vain take a full breath without shifting his wounds.

"Wolf?"

His eye shot open, taking in the familiar warm gaze and thin shoulders that haunted his most recent nightmares.

"Aki…" he attempted to push himself into a sitting position, needing to remove himself from the all too familiar safety of the olive green sofa, "I-"

Her arms shot around him in a vice grip, clutching him to her chest. Tears dropped onto Kakashi's bare shoulder, each splatter sending shards of ice through his heart, "Don't you dare apologize! Don't you dare! You do not get to feel guilty about this…" Her fingers laced into his hair, burying his head against her shoulder. "…Haruki knew what he was doing…"

Kakashi was at a loss, unsure of whether he should embrace her or pull away. He simply sat, arms limp at his sides, letting her hold him. It was his fault Haruki died. Aki could do whatever she wanted. Kakashi didn't have the right to refuse her.

They sat like this for several minutes, Aki crying silently against his shoulder, Kakashi's hands shivering violently at his sides. When she finally looked up, she was scowling playfully at him, the sorrow still hanging heavily behind her tired eyes, "I know we've only really met a few times, but I don't think I've ever seen when you haven't been bleeding." She laughed humorlessly.

His eyes were blank, as if under a genjutsu. Dull gray orbs staring blankly into nothing.

"Wolf?"

The expression cleared a moment later, a slight touch of fear invading his features, "I don't-"

"Did you really think I would hold my husband's death over you?"

Kakashi looked back down at the floor, unable to meet her gentle gaze. He didn't deserve her kindness. He didn't deserve her forgiveness. The sincere concern written across her face was almost too much to bear. Why didn't she understand? He had widowed her. His inadequacy as a captain had left her daughter fatherless. Had left her heart in shambles.

He knew what it meant to lose someone. He felt it in every enemy that died at his hand. In the unnatural stillness of every anbu he'd failed to save and the dying breath of everyone he'd ever loved. Haruki had been a crutch for him. A safe person to fall back on. His failure to protect him was nearly too much to carry. One more brick in the basket of regret weighing down his crumbling shoulders. Aki hardly knew him. They were barely acquaintances. Somehow it made this worse. The lack of hatred in her grieving eyes more painful than if she had screamed for his head.

He was nothing but a tool. A weapon of the state. A soulless marionette to be despised. The villagers had proclaimed it all his life. His actions had solidified the fact.

He wanted her to rage. He wanted her to tell him he was garbage; that he'd failed. He wanted her to hit him, to shun him, do something to take the revenge she rightly deserved.

No matter how backward it seemed, somehow, her compassion was more painful than her anger.

"Doggie?"

The tinkling voice echoed softly from the shadow of the adjacent hallway.

Aki pulled back, wiping the remaining tears from her eyes before her daughter could see them.

She stood in the doorway, little white nightdress slouching off one bony shoulder.

"Suzu honey, what are you doing out of bed?"

"Doggie!" She squealed, rushing forwards to jump onto Kakashi's lap, her mother catching her before she could touch his bandaged stomach.

"Suzu honey, we need to be very careful with Doggie right now, okay?"

She turned a blinding smile to her mom, the same wild grin Kakashi remembered stretching across her father's wiry face.

"Okay, Mommy!"

She turned back to Kakashi with a confused pout, reaching up to touch his bare cheek. He fought the urge to recoil, "Where's your mask Doggie?"

Kakashi swallowed, schooling his face into indifference as he answered, his voice gravely in his throat, "I forgot it."

"That's not good Doggie! Daddy says you have to always wear your mask! Because bad guys are super bad an' will follow you home! And that's why you call Daddy Birdie and Daddy has to call you Doggie!"

Kakashi felt Obito's eye began to tear, the fabric around his left eye darkening under the salty liquid.

Suzu touched the headband gently. Her feathery black hair flipped over her shoulder as she turned to look back, "Mommy?"

Aki glanced back at her daughter from picking up her medical supplies, removing the heads of two syringes as she answered, "Yes honey?"

"Are you and Doggie sad because Daddy went away?"

Her head snapped up and turned to look fully at her young daughter, a few stray tears falling before she could stop them. Suzu took this as an answer, wrapping her arms around Kakashi's neck, "Me too."

Aki ruffled her daughter's hair gently, giving Kakashi's shoulder a firm squeeze as she headed for the kitchen.

After a moment of silence, Suzu sighed, snuggling deeper against Kakashi's chest, "I missed you Doggie." Kakashi's heart clenched, her tiny hands burrowing into Kakashi's thick hair, "Daddy liked you lots too."

Kakashi's slowly returned the hug, a small broken smile playing across his chapped lips, "…Thank you, Suzu."

As if someone had flipped a switch, the little girl leaned back and yelled, "Mommy can we have ice cream?" Tiny hands moving to grip the pockets of Kakashi's pants, "To make Daddy happy?"

"To make Daddy happy?" Aki asked.

"Daddy said that when he went to heaven, he would stay in my heart, and Daddy said that ice cream made his heart happy. So I want Daddy to live somewhere happy!"

Aki grinned tiredly, her eye's gleaming weakly, "Ah….sure honey."

Kakashi chuckled weakly, fighting to retain control of his fractured defenses.

 _'I'm a tool; tool's don't feel.'_

"Can Doggie have ice cream too?"

Aki sighed and moved back to his side a tall glass of cloudy liquid gripped in her right hand.

"No honey, Doggie can drink this and go back to sleep." She looked meaningfully down at him, daring the anbu to refuse, "Suzu why don't you go wait for me in the kitchen?"

The little girls bottom lip stuck out, pronouncing her already round cheeks as she slipped off Kakashi's legs, "Why can't Doggie have ice cream?"

Kakashi smiled tiredly at his comrade's daughter, placing a pale hand on the top of her silky head, "Maybe some other time, Suzu."

She hummed in discontent, eyebrows crinkling together as she marched from the room. As the sound of little feet pattered into the kitchen, Aki placed the glass in Kakashi's hand, "I want you to finish that." She ordered firmly, "You can fill your team in in the morning."

"Thank you, Aki." He whispered taking a deep draft from the glass, suppressing the urge to gag on the bitter liquid.

"All of it." She demanded, ignoring the grimace of discomfort as Kakashi hurriedly chugged the rest of its contents and handed it back to her.

"That should help with the pain, and give you a few hours undisturbed rest." She placed her hand on his shoulder, the warmth of her fingers spreading across his freezing skin.

"I promise all the hugging will stay a secret." She said cheekily pressing his shoulder back into the lumpy pillow, "Wouldn't want your team to think you've gone soft now would we?"

Their eyes met for a moment, a silent understanding passing between the two of them.

"You don't have to torture yourself." She whispered, "Just know our door is always open. We'll be fine."

Kakashi attempted to respond, his eye seeming to close on its own accord, "Aki?"

He could feel her gaze resting on his eyelid, "You meant everything to him."

"I know." The smile in her whisper nearly palpable as the Hatake's consciousness faded into oblivion.

...

The next time Kakashi woke the room was quiet. Sunlight poured in through the open window, pooling across his aching body and seeping deep into his sore muscles. He sat up warily, torso throbbing painfully in protest.

The memories of last night came rushing back, a patchwork of mismatched events seeming to belong more to the timeframe of several weeks than the reality of a single day.

He turned his head to see Minato passed out on a chair beside him, a stack of paperwork half finished resting on his lap.

A cool breeze drifted in through an open window, gently lifting the corners of the papers held down by Minato's slack fingers.

Kakashi swung his legs over the side of the couch and winced; he had definitely cracked a few ribs last night.

As he moved to grab the spare shirt and mask left on the table, Minato's eyes fluttered open just in time to watch as Kakashi pulled the tight fabric over his head, hissing as his newly closed stomach wound drew taught.

Minato's hand reflexively jutted forwards, "Hey! Careful! Don't push it just yet." He reached to grab the hem of Kakashi's shirt, stopping as the anbu shot him a warning look, pulling the fabric the rest of the way over his bandaged midsection.

Minato's eyes roved over the young Hatake skeptically, mouth straitening into a thin line.

"I'm alright." Kakashi said dully, looking at his sensei for a few moments before shifting his gaze down to the hardwood floor.

There was a moment of awkward silence between the two. Minato rested his chin on steepled fingers, the frustration within him boiling his insides. Kakashi looked back up, eyes locking resolutely onto Minato's, the unspoken challenge raging between them.

Minato hated playing this card, but he didn't know what else to do.

"Anbu Wolf." Kakashi's head snapped to attention, the blue eyes of his childhood sensei hardening into the resolute visage of the fourth Hokage, "Report."

Kakashi straightened, his eyes sharpening at the command. The voice that rose from his throat was empty. Completely withdrawn as it relayed the events and suspicions of the past two weeks.

Minato sighed, "Kakashi, why didn't you report this?"

The anbu glanced back at Minato, a wall of indifference settling across the Hatake's hunched features, "This wasn't a mission. By law, I'm not required to report anything."

Minato fought the urge to scream, "Kakashi, withholding information about possible threats-"

"To my person. Not to the village." Kakashi quipped, the air of detachment seeming to grow thicker as he continued, "Unless these shinobi pose a serious threat to my comrades or the civilians of this nation, it is not required by law that I bring a personal vendetta against me to your attention."

Minato took a deep breath, attempting to meet his student on common ground, "Being a target for assassination makes you a liability."

Kakashi shrugged, "I'm always being targeted for assassination." He corrected, "As are you and every other S class shinobi on the continent."

"I'm not talking about your run of the mill bounty hunters Kakashi. No one knows who these guys are. This is an unknown threat you're facing."

"I can handle it."

"Like you did last night?"

Kakashi's eyes darkened, the set of his shoulders squaring ever so slightly.

"Look, I know you aren't going to like this but…Kakashi, I can't condone you living alone right now. These people have the capacity to make it past our gaits. It would be too easy to target you there."

"I can take care of myself."

"I know you can, but right now…maybe a few people to watch your back wouldn't be such a bad idea?"

"Mina-"

"Kakashi, you're coming to live with Kushina and me."

"No."

Minato's gaze steeled, "You don't have a say in this."


	6. The Guard Becomes The Guarded

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

 **Authors Note: Hi everyone! Thank you for being patient! Hopefully, this chapter isn't too dry, I promise the next one will be more fun. For those of you who read these author notes, thank you! A big shout out and HUGE thanks to everyone who reviewed, Prescripto13, juman1994, coriamber2014, TwoRollsOfParchment, joyee.w, and tabjoy13, YOU GUYS ROCK!**

 **I am back in school again so chapters may take longer to be posted, but I promise I won't drop the story. I intend to see it through to completion. As always, please review! I really value your input and I would love to know what you think and how I can improve. Thanks a million and I hope you enjoy!**

 **P.S: Sorry for all the typos this time around! I think I got them all now :)**

 **ADDITION TO KEY::**  
 **TPO: Third Person Omniscient**

Lone Wolves Don't Last Long

Chapter Six: The Guard Becomes The Guarded

TPO

Kakashi followed behind his teacher, contemplating how he had allowed things to get so far out of hand. He could feel his fellow anbu stationed around the perimeter of the Namikaze's little house, their gazes like a cage slowly constricting around him. Kakashi hated being guarded. He preferred the shadows. The deep sense of safety found in being invisible from the rest of the world. Eyes on his back had never been a friendly sensation.

Minato unlocked his front door and stepped into the entryway, "Here we are. I-" He turned to look back at his student, still frozen three feet from the entrance. His hands shoved deep into his pockets, emotionless eyes staring blankly into the nearby trees. Or at least, that's what anyone else would think. Minato traced the anbu's gaze upwards and smiled knowingly, "You'll get used to them." Kakashi's shoulder's slumped a little further, "Come on."

With that, Minato took his shoes off and entered the house.

Kakashi sighed. The moment Minato disappeared, he grabbed a shuriken and flicked it viscously at the exposed left foot in a nearby tree.

The appendage jerked back behind the trunk.

"Sloppy." The Hatake muttered icily, readjusting his duffle bag as he followed his Sensei inside, closing the door behind him.

...

Tenzo POV

 _'Well…Senpai is definitely not happy with me.'_

Anbu Cat bent to pluck the offending weapon out of the branch, stowing it in his pouch to return later.

This kind of correction was fairly normal to Tenzo. Kakashi was blunt. He said what he felt he needed to, heedless to the feelings of those around him.

His captain's voice echoed eerily in his head, _"Sloppy,"_ The fury that laced his single word biting deep into Tenzo's gut.

 _'Sorry, Taichou. This is for your own good.'_

...

Kakashi POV

Kakashi closed the door behind him and turned to remove his shoes. Minato smiled as his student straitened, the silver-haired anbu lingering awkwardly in the entranceway.

"Come on. You can put your bag in here." Minato motioned for him to follow.

Kakashi sighed, making his way through the living room and past the kitchen. Minato lead the way, nudging blocks and stuffed animals out of his path as he walked.

The house was small but comfortable. Kushina's influence was everywhere, in the plush couch and the warm yellow curtains. Kakashi felt like a rabid wolf in a petting zoo, unfit for a place this…alive…and guarded.

He could feel the stares of his fellow anbu through the kitchen window as he passed, their attention creating a thick sense of unease that steadily grew denser in the Hatake's mind. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself not to turn and look. Instead, he cast his eyes to the back of Minato's retreating head, focusing on the soft spikes of blonde hair as they swayed slightly with each step.

Minato opened the very first door to the left, motioning for Kakashi to step inside.

Grudgingly he complied, resisting the urge to groan at the large picture window from which the invisible eyes of his comrades bore into him.

The room was small. Clean hardwood floors shone dully in the afternoon light. A small bed and side table pressed against the wall, the arrangement attempting to preserve as much space as possible.

He immediately slid off his duffle bag and dropped it onto the mattress, awkwardly glancing up at his sensei for further instruction.

Minato said nothing, seemingly lost in thought as he hovered in the doorway.

Kakashi attempted to shield his exasperation, "Minato-sensei, this is unnecess-"

"Go ahead and unpack," Minato cut him off cheerfully, "I have to go back to the office, but Kushina should be home in a few hours. Help yourself to anything in the fridge, Mouse and Bear are your detail for today-"

"I don't need a-"

"-so if you need to leave or want help with anything, they will be stationed outside. I'll see you at dinner, make yourself at home!" Minato called as he made his way towards the front door.

"Minato-sensei!" Kakashi called after him, his only answer the echo of the front door thunking closed.

Kakashi growled in frustration turning back into his designated room and sitting roughly on the edge of the bed. This was a nightmare.

...

Minato POV

Minato closed the front door behind him and sighed. Kakashi wasn't going to make this easy. He knew the story that Kakashi had told was true. He had no doubt. Minato had demanded a report and his student had provided as thorough and detailed as always. But he didn't give his speculations. He didn't provide his theories. _That_ was what worried Minato the most. Kakashi _always_ had theories.

It wasn't that his student didn't trust him. That much he knew. But Kakashi was, in essence, a very private and thoughtful person. If he believed that leaving out his deductions would protect the people he secretly loved, he would do it.

Minato descended from his front porch, mind turning over the meager bits of information he'd gathered thus far. The only semblance of a theory Kakashi provided was that it seemed unlikely the attack had come from outside the village. What that meant, Minato had yet to discover. He agreed his attackers would not have their base outside the Leaf. Not if they had attacked twice. However, if that meant that enemy ninja had infiltrated his village, he had more to worry about than just Kakashi's head.

Absentmindedly, he motioned for the anbu on duty. Five nin instantly appeared kneeling before him.

"You all know your missions," The five ninja stood, waiting for dismissal, "Rabbit, Viper, Cat you're with me. Mouse, Bear," Minato placed a hand firmly on Daichi's large shoulder, staring fiercely into the dark holes of the man's porcelain mask, "watch him like a hawk."

Bear nodded grimly, "Hai, Hokage-sama."

"Dismissed."

The ninja around him scattered, his three escorts moving back to a more respectful distance and fading into the background.

Minato turned in the opposite direction of Hokage Tower and began striding towards the intelligence division. Maybe Yamanaka Inoichi could find him some answers.

...

Kakashi POV

The moment the front door closed Kakashi stood and yanked the curtains across the open window, sighing as the pressure of the anbu's gazes lifted from his taut shoulders. This was going to get old very quickly.

He was used to being the guard, not the guarded. Eyes on his back had always meant danger. Even with Obito and Rin, staring had meant planning, and planning had meant trouble. Whether Obito was scheming to snatch his mask, or Rin was checking him for wounds while he wasn't looking, it usually led to undesirable outcomes. Now he was trapped. The tiny dark room seeming to close in around him.

 _'You are not trapped. You can leave the house.'_ …But not alone. Not unseen. His freedom was gone, vanished like a drop of water on hot sand.

He exhaled in frustration and heaved himself off the bed, his hand unconsciously rubbing over the tender pink scar tissue, still smarting from the previous night's attack.

Banishing his reeling thoughts for the moment, he moved about the room, going through the motions of unpacking his meager belongings. He let the simple task distract him, redirecting his pent-up energy into something more productive.

Reaching into the duffle he pulled out his clothes, folding them meticulously and placing them one by one into the small dresser. Everything he owned at this point was either black or blue, a jonin or anbu uniform. The one exception to the monotony was his box of civvies, a black T-shirt, and loose gray sweats he hardly ever touched.

Moving back to his bag, he reached to pull his books out and stopped, his hand hovering over a worn orange cover. Jiraya's novels would probably not be appreciated by his new fiery haired roommate. Sighing, he emptied the rest of his belongings onto the bed and stashed his bag containing the contraband into the back of the little closet.

Suddenly, there was a tap at the window, the sound jerking Kakashi's mind back into gear. There was a five-second pause before the glass slid open with a whoosh, "Senpai?"

Kakashi let out an inaudible groan and turned to pull the shades apart. Yugao crouched on the window sill, her mouse mask hiding the hesitant smile playing on her lips, "Do you want help unpacking?"

"No." He answered, carefully beginning to sort through his spare weapons.

"Are Hokage-sama and Kushina-san going to be okay with your…ah…arrangements?" She asked as her eyes followed him planting a handful of shuriken, point side up, underneath the bed.

He shrugged, turning to stash the rest of his weapons in the top drawer of the dresser. Honestly, at this point, he didn't care. It wasn't like he wanted to be here. Besides, what were they going to do? It wasn't like they could throw him out. Not unless they wanted to put him in an Anbu holding cell. He was fairly certain that Minato and Kushina wouldn't resort to such an extreme. Not unless they had no other choice.

Besides, Anbu came with quirks. That was the nature of their unit. One massive group of mentally unsound people taking the missions no one else could handle. It was one of those few ideas that were so ludicrous they actually worked.

Anbu messed with your head. Naturally, his mind would have some cracks in the plaster. If sharp objects under the bed helped him sleep at night…well, helped him sleep once every few nights, then who cared? He could have problems a lot worse than trying to deter possible intruders from hiding under his mattress.

Yugao's curious gaze followed him around the room, grating on Kakashi's raw nerves. What part of closing the blinds did his team not understand?

Without further ado, he walked towards the window and casually slid the curtains back over her perch, as if she were nothing but the afternoon breeze.

He heard her exhale in disappointment, the drapes shivering as she leaped back to the tree line to keep watch.

Kakashi wasn't an idiot. He knew their plan. One was to keep watch on the area, the other on his person. Yugao had volunteered for the latter. Fortunately for Kakashi, his team knew him well enough to guess that having a forced babysitter wouldn't sit well with their bull-headed captain. They wouldn't enter the house without invitation. Yugao's offer to help unpack had been a request. One that Kakashi had instantly denied. He wasn't about to give away what little privacy he had left.

As Kakashi finished unpacking, he turned to sit on the end of the bed, a deep sense of discomfort roiling in his gut. This was all so wrong.

He dragged his fingernails down the back of his head, ruffling the already unruly mass of silver hair. Minato wasn't going to let him worm his way out of this. His only chance of release was the capture or destruction of his latest enemy.

Pushing himself to his feet, he moved to the doorway, hesitating as he stepped into the narrow hall. A part of his mind screamed at him to go back. To hide in the relative seclusion of the small guest room and wait for a chance to slip out of the house unnoticed. To _make_ a way out of this mess. He shoved the feeling aside and moved to explore the familiar expanse of his cushy prison.

He was the closest room to the kitchen, and directly across from the bathroom. He smiled grimly, wondering how long he could exist in the Namikaze residence without being seen. Immediately he dropped the idea. Kushina would probably have a rage fit and hunt him down within the first twenty-four hours. It wasn't worth it.

To his left, the hallway ran past three more doors and opened up to a back porch. The Namikaze's house was built on a large wooden platform, the house reinforced by numerous hefty support beams. The building was much the same on either side, two large wooden porches expanding across the length of the front and back of the little home. Minato and Kushina's room was more off of the central area of the house, the door nestled snuggly between the kitchen and living area. Naruto's room was further down the hall, past Kakashi's, and closest to the back door.

Slowly, he made his way around the empty house, familiarizing himself with the layout once more. He had been here a million times. Minato would often invite him over for dinner. Most of the time Kakashi refused, finding one reason or another to avoid the ordeal. However sometimes, despite himself, he found his feet carrying him to his sensei's front door, much to the delight of the infamous Yellow Flash.

Occasionally he would pop in unannounced, needing to alter a mission report or requesting time off for one of his subordinates. Minato almost immediately would haul him into the house and find reasons for him to stay half the night. Most times Kakashi didn't mind. However, he never quite felt at ease here. Particularly now, that he was essentially being followed about like some suspect on an S class mission.

He moved into the living room, his head snapping to attention when he felt the familiar gazes of his team bore into the side of his head. Pressing the annoyance out of his features, he stepped up to the living room window and closed those blinds as well.

He was beginning to feel like a caged bird and he'd hardly been there half an hour.

Growling gently in frustration, he turned and stalked back to his room. He needed something to do. Something to take his mind off the two fussing anbu adorning the trees outside.

Snatching his unfinished mission report off the dresser, he sat down at the small wooden desk and began to write. Maybe work would help him think of a way out of this. A way back to the numbing cavern of isolation. Somewhere far away from the memories threatening to bend the bars of their prison.

...

Minato POV

"Are you sure?" Minato asked, blue eyes pouring desperately over the page of intel gathered from his student's apartment.

"I'm certain. The Inuzuka clan's dogs couldn't even pick up a scent. It's as if Kakashi were fighting ghosts."

"Did they pick up a chakra signature? _Anything?_ "

"Like I said," Inoichi replied, the exasperation melting into his voice, "It was as if he were fighting ghosts. All the weapons found were leaf regulation and no fingerprints besides Kakashi's. Whoever attacked him knew what they were doing…Unless Kakashi wasn't attacked."

Minato glanced up at the Yamanaka, attempting to thrust the anger out of his features. He gestured for the older man to continue.

"Kakashi mentioned that he could see none of his attackers' chakra signatures?"

Minato nodded

"No living person is ever completely devoid of a chakra signature. Even in sage mode, when the chakra is being mixed with the nature energy around it, the chakra would only appear slightly translucent to a sharingan user. Besides, the unnatural amount of energy within the body would be like a beacon to a member of the anbu. For a signature to be completely invisible…The most _logical_ explanation is that there was no one _there_."

Minato shoved down the twinge of worry threatening to bubble up his spine, "Are you saying Kakashi's story is a lie?"

Inoichi sighed, "There was no evidence whatsoever of forced entry. Everything was sealed with the exception of the front door, which presumably Kakashi unlocked himself. From the positions of the weapons and the damages to the area…The evidence shows it's unlikely that Kakashi was fighting an illusion, but…" The man paused, grimacing apologetically at Minato.

"But?"

Inoichi exhaled tiredly and continued, "The Anbu has a tendency to mess with a ninja's mind. Kakashi is the genius of his generation. It wouldn't be difficult for someone of his intellect to…set up a believable crime scene."

Minato's hand clenched, "You think this was a mental collapse?"

Inoichi shrugged, "As far as we know, there is no irrefutable evidence that intruders invaded his home last night. Kakashi's family has had a history of.…instability. I don't believe he would lie, but…" The blonde jonin rubbed at his temple, "At this point, unless we uncover further evidence, it is safe to assume that Kakashi's wounds are self-inflicted."

Minato sighed and swiped a hand down his face. He'd been aware of Kakashi's teetering mental health for years. It had been part of the reason he had assigned him to the anbu.

The anbu allowed a ninja to drown themselves in their work. In fact, it required it. Allowing Kakashi to focus on something apart from the deaths of his loved ones had seemed like a good idea. To be among other people who had experienced loss, people who could understand him. To show him he wasn't alone, and to keep him close to himself. Placing Kakashi on team Ro had allowed Minato to watch over him. Had provided the opportunity for Minato to remind him that he was still cared for. That Kakashi hadn't lost everyone.

Part of it had been selfishness. The village was short on capable nin. The war had taken its toll. As the Yondaime of the Hidden Leaf, he also had a duty to his people. Minato couldn't afford to spare his beloved student from the horrors of the world. He had needed manpower. Desperately. Kakashi had been and still was, simply too qualified to ignore.

The thought left a bitter taste in Minato's mouth, the reality of his decisions roiling up his throat.

"So you're saying our only logical conclusion is that Kakashi did this to himself?" He confirmed raising his head. He didn't want to believe it, but he had to consider the possibility. Kakashi had a history of being a danger to himself. Just never in the village. Never like _that_. Never like his father had been.

He'd taken suicide missions more times than Minato could count. Missions he didn't think he'd be coming back from. Whether Kakashi needed the high or was underhandedly trying to take his own life, Minato didn't know. What he had always been sure of was Kakashi's contempt for his father's death. His disgust of his choice to leave him behind. Minato had always been sure that Kakashi wouldn't kill himself. He'd let someone else do it. He'd take a mission and die for the village. He'd take a kunai and die for a friend. But now? Minato wasn't so sure, and that scared him.

Inoichi's gaze locked onto Minato's, eyeing the man meaningfully, "No, not necessarily. I said it was the most _logical_ conclusion, not the only one. We don't have enough have solid evidence to prove anything at the moment."

Minato bit back a growl of frustration, "So where does that leave us?"

"That depends on how far you're willing to go."

Minato eyes widened for a moment, then closed in realization, "A mind transfer jutsu?"

Inoichi nodded grimly, "We could potentially access his memories. We would be able to watch the attack through his eyes. I'm afraid with the evidence we have everything that could point to an attacker could also point to Kakashi himself. At this point, it would be our only option for ruling out a suicide attempt. However, the process is extremely invasive."

"I'll…I'll talk to him." The yellow flash relented wearily, the prospect seeming to add years to his withering frame.

...

Kakashi POV

At the sound of the front door opening, Kakashi set down his mission report, cracking his stiff knuckles as he stood. Kushina's angry voice echoed across the house, "Shoes, Naruto! Naruto get back here!"

Taking a deep breath to prepare himself Kakashi slowly opened his bedroom door and stepped into the hall.

"KAKASHI-NII!" The blonde bullet came zooming across the house, slamming none too gently into the anbu's right leg.

"Naruto-chan," Kakashi greeted, his usual deadpan voice softening ever so slightly. His right hand reached to ruffle the young boy's hair but stopped, letting it fall tiredly to his side.

"Kashi-nii! Tou-san and Kaa-san said you are going to stay! We can play ninja and eat ramen and stay up late, and-and eat ramen, and-"

Kushina set her bag down on the counter and gently peeled Naruto off Kakashi's leg, "Naru-chan, why don't you go get ready for dinner?"

"-you can meet Shikamaru, and we can prank Tou-san, and-"

"Naruto…" Kushina said warningly. The young boy stopped mid-sentence scampering down the hall to his bedroom, "AND TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF!" Kushina shouted behind him.

The young boy disappeared into his room with an unapologetic giggle, sandals still strapped to his tiny feet.

Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief and bowed politely to Kushina, "Kushina-san-"

"Oh, enough of that!" She darted forwards grabbing him by the shoulders and looking him over appraisingly. Kakashi lurched backwards, away from her anxious grip.

"You had me so worried, you know? I heard you were hurt, are-"

"It's taken care of. I'm fine."

"You'd better be, you know! What were you thinking?"

"I-"

"You could have died Bakakashi!"

She made to smack him upside the head, her hand stopped mid swipe as Kakashi's flashed up. Kushina froze, blinking in surprise at her wrist shackled inside Kakashi's stiff fingers. His eye had gone suddenly blank, his features stiff and empty, as if his soul had disappeared and left his body to take control.

"Kakashi?"

A second later he blinked, noticing his fingers wrapped around Kushina's tiny wrist, "I…I'm sorry." He dropped her hand and took a step back. The last vestiges of emotion that had begun to color his blank exterior, replaced by the empty and uncaring visage of the copy ninja.

"Ka-"

"Let me know if there's anything I can help you with. I have a mission report to finish, so if you'll excuse me." Kakashi turned and retreated back down the hall, slipping inside the tiny guest room and closing the door softly behind him.

Kushina turned into the kitchen and swore, resting her forehead on the counter.

 _'Baka,_ baka _,_ baka _,_ baka _! NEVER threaten an_ anbu _! What were you thinking you BAKA!'_

She closed her eyes, her forehead beginning to soak up the cold from the stone countertop. The way he had changed…her heart ached at the thought. She should have known better. And now he'd be blaming himself for something stupid. Something that was _her_ fault. Something he shouldn't be sorry for. Why didn't she ever _think_ before she did stuff like this?

...

Minato POV

Minato opened the front door and stepped into his home, kicking his shoes off and placing them neatly to the side, "Hey, I'm home!"

"Tou-san!" Naruto yelled happily, bolting into his father's waiting arms, "Naru-chan! How was your day little man?"

"Kaa-san and I went to the park, and then I played with Shikamaru and Kiba, and Kiba got in trouble, and his sister hit him _really_ hard!"

"Was he o-"

"And then Kaa-san and I went shopping and then we went to Sasuke's house because Kaa-san said she wanted to talk to Sasuke's Kaa-san so I played with Sasuke! And then we came home and Kashi-nii is here! And Kaa-san told me that Kashi-nii is going to stay! And then Kaa-san made me take my shoes off! And now she's sleeping in the kitchen!"

"Kus- I mean, Kaa-san is sleeping?" Minato corrected, anxiety creeping into his whirling mind. Naruto nodded, and Minato set him down. His son's tiny hand slipped into his, pulling him down the main hall and into the kitchen. Kushina stood with her face planted on the counter, bag of groceries still sitting untouched beside her.

"Naru-chan, would you do me a favor?"

Naruto nodded excitedly, his hand bouncing in Minato's as he hopped up and down.

"Can you go and get my newspaper for me?"

Naruto nodded eagerly, running into his parents' bedroom to search through his father's bedside table.

Knowing his time was limited, Minato stepped up to his wife and put a hand carefully on her shoulder, "Kushina?"

She moaned softly and lifted her arms to bury her face in, "Mnto I scrmd ump."

"What?" He asked, her voice indecipherable from behind the crooks of her elbows.

She lifted her head, "I screwed up." She moaned, turning to plant her red forehead on Minato's shoulder.

"Why? What'd you do?"

"I tried to smack Kakashi and-"

"You what?"

"It was a love smack!"

"O-okay-"

"I think I scared him off, and now he's hiding in the guest room, and probably feeling all guilty for grabbing my wrist, and he shouldn't, and now I don't know what to do to fix it! He's hardly been here eight hours and I've already screwed things up! I'm such a baka! What is wrong with me? Actually, don't answer that." All of this came out so fast that if Minato hadn't been a practiced listener to Kushina's rants he'd have hardly caught a word.

Hugging her gently, he felt a little hand tug on his shirt. His left hand reached down and accepted the wrinkled newspaper from his son, turning to mouth thank you over Kushina's drooping shoulder.

Naruto grinned, running off with the pilfered comic's section, a happy smirk playing across his little face with the belief he'd gotten the better of his father.

...

Kakashi POV

Kakashi sat at the small writing desk, staring blankly at his long-finished mission report. His mind flashed over Kushina's face, his hand around her wrist, unable to remember how it had come to be there.

He placed his face into his shaking hands. Rin's voice echoed through his mind, the memory mixing into Kushina's words, _'Kakashi? Ka-Kakashi? Ka-ka-shi…"_

…

 _"No."_

 _"Kakashi! Listen there's n-"_

 _"I said no!" He snapped, pulling her along behind him. There had to be another way. Accepting defeat was not an option._

 _"There's nothing you can do!"_

 _"I WON'T RIN!" He bellowed, his breath ragged in his chest. He'd been running all afternoon to find her, and now all night to try to bring her back. His body pushed forwards on pure adrenaline, the mantra that Obito had left him playing repeatedly through his skull._

'Protect Rin. Protect Rin. Protect Rin.'

 _Rin flinched and said softly, "Kakashi, the Sanbi will destroy_ everything _. You_ have _to kill me. Before it's too late."_

 _"We'll find another way."_

 _Rin drew silent, allowing him to haul her ever closer towards home, her quivering hand suddenly becoming still in his steel grip._

 _Kakashi glanced anxiously behind him. The enemy was closing in, their ranks creating a funnel that drove them straight towards the Hidden Leaf. They had to break through their line; it was their only chance._

 _In a flash, the young Hatake spun, making Rin gasp as he jerked her back in the opposite direction. Shuriken showered down around them, forcing Kakashi to drop Rin's hand to block the deadly projectiles._

 _"Stay behind me!" He ordered, rushing forwards to meet an incoming mist nin._

 _There were too many. Trying to fight them all would be a death sentence. If he could just make a gap, an exit through their ranks, they stood a chance. Rin couldn't go back to the Leaf. It would be her death and the death of every other living thing in the village. All they could do was run. Stay as far away from the village as possible until a better course of action could be determined. One that didn't involve killing his reason for living._

 _"Chidori!" His hand burst_ _into_ _life, chirping tendrils of electricity crackling out of the glowing orb and off his hand like a fountain._

 _He looked up at the enemy, his resolve strengthening. Rin wouldn't die. Not on his watch._

 _He shot forwards, chidori aimed at the mist ninja's heart._

 _…And then he stopped._

 _…The abrupt sickening punch of contact coming sooner than it should have._

 _…"Ka-ka-shi"_

'…No.'

 _Kakashi looked up, Rin's face, wide-eyed and pale registering in his slowly shattering mind. His eyes traveled down to his arm…the appendage protruding from her chest._

 _The chidori that up until this point had been a backlight on Rin's broken body flickered into nothingness._

 _Tears streamed from his wide eyes, soaking into his mask as he stared, disbelieving at Rin's terror-filled face gradually falling slack._

 _He wrapped his left arm around her shoulder, drawing his right arm slowly, repulsively, from her blood-soaked chest. The squelch of his skin on her torn flesh brought bile to the back of his throat._

 _Desperately, he grasped for a way out. A genjutsu, a dream? Because this couldn't be real. His hand couldn't be covered in her blood. She couldn't be dying in his arms._

 _He felt her smile gently against his shoulder. Her cheek lifted softly into his neck, her chestnut hair brushing across his ear. He held her back at arm's length, his body swaying dangerously to the side._

 _The moment he did, she was dead weight, crumpling out of the support of his weakening hand. Her lifeless body flopped to the hard ground._

 _His hand reached forwards, too late to catch her, too weak to hold her up even if he had._

 _Rin's blood soaked his arm up past the elbow, the cooling crimson liquid dripping lazily from his limp fingers. Finally the reality of what had happened settled in around him._

 _His eyes rolled back, and he dropped, blacking out before he even hit the ground._

 _..._

Minato POV

"Kakashi?"

The young man sat hunched at the small writing desk, face in his hands, elbows supporting his drooping features.

Minato stepped further into the room, making his steps purposefully heavier in hopes of not startling the absent-minded anbu captain, "Kakashi? Hey, you okay?"

Kakashi's head slowly lifted, his head turning tiredly to examine Minato with vacant eyes, "Hmm? Did you say something?"

Minato eyed him hesitantly, "Kushina made dinner if you'd like to join us."

Kakashi seemed to consider this for a moment. Finally, he nodded and stood to follow Minato into the hall, hands planted deep into his pockets.

Before they turned into the kitchen, Minato caught the boys shoulder and muttered quietly, "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Hai, Sensei." He answered, seeming to straighten as he glanced back towards the uncovered window set into the back door. Minato followed his eyes to the opening, feeling the gazes of the anbu stationed outside seeping into the house. At a hand signal from Minato, the air seemed to lighten, their attention focused on the area surrounding the house instead of the young man standing rigidly beside him.

Minato felt rather than heard the deep sigh escape from behind Kakashi's mask, his shoulders drooping relievedly back to their typical slouch.

There was no reason the anbu should need to monitor Kakashi when Minato was home. He made a mental note to adjust their instructions.

"If you say so," Minato answered, releasing his student's shoulder, "I hope you like ramen."

 _'Because that's all Kushina knows how to cook.'_ He thought ruefully.

With that Minato turned the corner and ducked into the kitchen, Kakashi trailing cautiously behind.

...

Kushina POV

Kushina quickly dispelled the worry that had eaten into her gut, grinning widely as her husband and the young Hatake turned the corner into the kitchen.

The fiery-haired Kunoichi set the last of the four massive bowls of ramen down on the table.

"Come and get it while it's hot!" She chirped, taking her seat across from Naruto and motioning for the others to join her.

Minato sat next to her, patting her knee reassuringly under the table as the subject of her worry hesitantly took his place across from her husband.

She caught the hint of a smile on Minato's face as he glanced inconspicuously to her eyes and then up at their new charge.

The message was clear. He'd be alright.

Kushina let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and clapped her hands together, "Itadakimasu."

The others echoed her and began to eat, Kakashi stirring his chopsticks absentmindedly around his bowl.

"Kashi-nii, how do you eat with your mask on?" Naruto asked innocently, slurping a giant mouthful of noodles as he spoke.

Kakashi shrugged, "I'm talented."

Naruto stared at him expectantly, slurping yet another enormous mouthful, a few bits of broth splattering onto the table.

Kakashi ignored him, continuing to stir his food in lazy circles.

"Kashi-nii what's your favorite kind of ramen?"

"I don't have one."

"Why not?"

Kakashi considered him thoughtfully, allowing a hint of an eye smile to invade his blank face, "I don't eat it as often as you do."

Kushina glared at him suspiciously, "Hey! I make other things besides ramen!"

Minato turned to look at her, one thin blonde eyebrow raised, "When?"

Kushina spluttered indignantly, "I made fish last week!"

Minato chuckled, "No you _bought_ fish last week. _I_ cooked it."

Kushina crossed her arms over her chest and turned up her nose, "Well, ramen is the best meal ever!"

"Seven days a week?" Minato prodded teasingly.

"It's not my fault that you can't understand the wonders of ramen." She snapped, angrily slurping another loud mouthful.

Minato chuckled and nudged her gently with his elbow, "You know I love your cooking."

Kushina swallowed and harrumphed indignantly.

"Kashi-nii? What's your favorite food?" Naruto asked, ignoring his parents and focusing solely on the Hatake.

Kakashi sat silently for a minute, seeming to search for an answer, "Miso soup with eggplant."

Naruto stared at him aghast, "You like vegetables?"

Kakashi nodded bemusedly.

Naruto's brain seemed to be short-circuiting at the thought, the idea that someone could actually _like_ vegetables beyond his comprehension.

After a moment of silence, Kushina looked over at Kakashi's bowl. Like always, some of the food had mysteriously vanished, Kakashi somehow managing to take his bites whilst no one was watching. She slurped the remainder of her broth and sighed appreciatively before adding chidingly, "Kakashi-kun, you've hardly touched your food."

Kakashi shrugged, "I'm not used to eating this much."

Kushina froze, reassessing his lean, hunched frame. She suddenly wondered if her husband's ex-student had been surviving on food pills alone.

Minato cut in before she could press the issue, "So, Kushina, how was Mikoto this afternoon?"

...

TPO

Outside the world was darkening, the stars beginning to prick pinpoints of light in the blackening sky. Huddled in the deep shadows beneath a stone outcropping, several dark figures, hooded and cloaked crouched beneath the view of the anbu on border patrol. So far everything had gone according to plan. For now, all they needed to do was wait.


	7. To Open One's Mind

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

 **Authors Note: Hey guys! Wow, it's been a while!** **School** **has been eating up every free second I have so I'm sorry this took so long. College is brutal sometimes.**

 **As always,** **a big** **thanks to everyone who favorited, followed, and/or reviewed, 0golden0, Guest, leenatrq, coriamber2014, Prescripto13, and tabjoy13 for your suggestions and support! I hope chapter eight will be out much faster than chapter seven. Thank you all, and I hope you enjoy!**

Lone Wolves Don't Last Long

Chapter Seven: To Open One's Mind

Minato POV

Minato paced restlessly in front of his desk, the bottom of his Hokage's cloak fluttering turbulently behind him.

His stomping feet disturbed a few of the many papers that lay piled in his inbox, sending them fluttering listlessly to the scuffed tile floor.

Shikaku leaned against the wall, arms crossed, saying nothing. He had been watching his leader's silent march for the past fifteen minutes and was beginning to run out of patience.

Finally, determined to be the voice of reason, Shikaku opened his mouth, "Minato, I know you want to believe him, but the evidence just isn't there. You know as well as I do that the Hatake clan-"

"Your right, there's no evidence. But there's no evidence to prove he _wasn't_ attacked either."

"That's ridiculous, and you know it. The only DNA in that apartment is his own. I know you love your student, but-"

"He wouldn't lie in a report Shikaku," Minato argued, his voice beginning to lose its confidence.

"I'm not saying he was lying Minato."

The Yondaime stopped his pacing to look at him.

Shikaku's fingers absentmindedly reached up to tighten his ponytail, "If he was hallucinating he may very well believe that he was under attack. It wouldn't be the first time an anbu has seen things that weren't there. Spending your days on S rank missions under that much stress is enough to break any ninja. Just because Kakashi doesn't know he tried to commit suicide doesn't necessarily mean that he didn't."

Minato leaned against his desk and rubbed his eyes in frustration, "Inoichi wants to do a mind transfer."

Shikaku shrugged, "It's the next logical step I suppose, if you want absolute proof. The Yamanaka clan can distinguish between reality and hallucinations when sorting through memories. Besides, Kakashi was the only one there that night. We can't prove anything apart from his word, and right now his word isn't reliable."

Minato seemed to shrink further, shriveling down into himself, "I don't think I can order him to do something like that."

"You're the Hokage. If it means protecting the village you don't have a choice."

Minato lowered his hand and looked up, "There's always a choice."

Shikaku nodded, "That's true. The question is which choice is right? Risking the lives of your citizens or potentially losing the trust of your student?"

"But…" Minato huffed tiredly, "Kakashi has been the only one attacked so far. I'm not even sure if this is a threat to the village. We don't even know if anyone was there. To force him to allow someone into his mind…"

"Is the only way to be certain." Shikaku said quietly, his eyes closing as he attempted to shut out the pained face of the young Hokage.

"To not give him a choice…He's not a prisoner. This technique is rarely used on anyone outside of interrogation in war times."

Shikaku opened his eyes and fixed his gaze on Minato, "And if he refuses and the village is attacked? Or you send the boy home and find him dead the next morning?"

Minato strode back around the table and threw himself into his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose. It was going to be a long day.

...

Kakashi POV

A week. It had been a week since he had been sentenced to live under the constant vigilance of the Anbu Black Ops. Kakashi finished organizing the living room bookshelf and proceeded to start on the spice cabinet.

The house was beginning to drive him mad. He needed something, anything, to do besides sit around and wait for the Namikaze's to come home like the family dog.

He picked up a small jar of dill and placed it next to the basil.

What bothered him more than anything was that, for the past week, he had made little to no progress on his investigation. The eyes scrutinizing his every move made it difficult to sneak back to Anbu headquarters for a secretive meeting with Chizuru Nara, A.K.A Anbu Crane, without being detected. He considered once more whether or not he should just report his suspicion to Minato. At this point, his sensei had already begun his investigation. There was a chance he had already looked into the poison.

Kakashi picked up the cinnamon and placed it between the basil and the dill.

Maybe he should tell him. There was no real reason to hold it back any longer. Despite this, something did hold him back.

Minato had been off since the day he'd come to their house. It was something in the way he glanced at him while he thought Kakashi wasn't looking. Something in the way he whispered to the anbu in the backyard, casting furtive glances back up at the blind-covered windows of Kakashi's bedroom. He trusted Minato with his life but...something wasn't right. Minato was an unknown right now. Giving important information to unknowns wasn't wise.

The decision seemed to tear him in half. Part of him argued that he was overthinking things. A piece of him steadfast in its certainty that he could always trust Minato...and yet...the rest of him drew back. It was something about the unnatural hesitance in his teacher's stride. Something in the nagging anxiety that darkened his sharp blue eyes. It was the same nervous ticks that tattled on the enemies who lied to Kakashi on anbu missions.

There was something he was missing. Something big, and it grated on his nerves that he couldn't seem to figure it out.

He wondered, not for the first time what Obito would have done in his place. Most likely, storm the Hokage tower and demand with obnoxious volume to know what was going on.

...

 _"Oy! Kakashi!" The silver hair chunin turned to see Obito careening across the empty field, "Oy!…Kakashi!…Where's…Rin…and Sensei?" He panted, stopping to double over in front of the unimpressed young Hatake._

 _Kakashi flicked his kunai at the target, hitting it dead center with a resounding thunk. Obito scowled._

 _"They left over an hour ago. How are you ever going to survive a mission if you can't even make it to the rendezvous?"_

 _"Shut up Bakakashi! You're not as perfect as you think you are you know!"_

 _Kakashi moved to retrieve his kunai, jerking it free of the splintered wood, "Is that so?"_

 _"Yeah, that's so! I'm gonna be Hokage someday!"_

 _Kakashi snorted and breezed past him, shoving his hands deep into his pants pockets._

 _"I find that hard to believe, seeing as you can't even seem to show up for training."_

 _Obito snarled and aimed a kick at the back of his teammate's retreating head. Kakashi turned, caught Obito's foot mid-swing and shoved him unceremoniously to the ground._

 _Obito fell with a strangled grunt as his ribcage collided with the earth. The silver-haired chunin watched dismissively as his teammate lay coughing, trying to somehow suck air back into his empty lungs. Taking one last disdainful look, Kakashi turned to_ _leave the clearing._

 _Suddenly, A loud gurgling noise echoed through the training grounds, silencing Obito's overdramatic wheezing. Kakashi's felt the blood rush to his cheeks and inwardly cursed his stomach. Both boys froze, Kakashi's retreat halting midstep._  
 _For a split second, Obito seemed confused, then with a smirk that appeared to split his face in half called, "You wanna get some ramen?"_

 _..._

Shaking himself out of his reverie, Kakashi came to a decision.

He strode back into his bedroom and shut the door. Biting his thumb, he smeared a drop of blood across his left hand and slammed it into the ground, "Summoning Jutsu."

In a puff of smoke, eight dogs appeared before him. The largest of them, after seeing he was in no immediate danger, promptly flopped onto the floor and laid his massive head on his paws.

Pakkun sniffed and looked lazily up at his summoner, the old pug's intelligent eyes glinting suspiciously, "Where are we pup?"

"Minato-sensei's house," Kakashi answered ruefully.

Suddenly the Hatake froze, raising his hand as he turned to the window in exasperation. His babysitters had apparently felt his chakra spike.

"It's just my dogs Cat. I'm fine."

The window slid open, and the porcelain masked face peered around the curtains. Several of Kakashi's hounds balked, a few of them growling warnings at the sudden appearance of the eerie cat mask floating around the drapes.

"Just checking." Tenzo answered lightly, waving to Pakkun before hopping back down off his perch.

Kakashi stood and moved to close the window, hoping that he could have at least one conversation without his overprotective team listening in.

"I had a run in with some shady characters a few days back. Minato-sensei seems to think I'm in need of protection."

"And are you?" Pakkun asked, jumping up onto the bed and sitting next to his hunched charge.

Kakashi shrugged, "I can handle it. More importantly, I have a job for you."

The pack straitened to attention, staring at their master expectantly.

"A few weeks back, I was poisoned on-"

"What!?" Immediately he was surrounded by a cocoon of living fur, knocking him sideways onto the mattress. The mass of whining licking dogs swarmed over him like an ocean wave.

"Are you okay?"

"-smells okay…"

"-hy didn't you call u-"

"Who did it? I swear I'l-"

"Guys! Guys! Enough, I'm fine!" Kakashi drew an arm across his face to protect from Uhei's frantic licking.

Pakkun hopped back onto the floor as the pack began to relax, the rest slowly following suit, though staying significantly closer to their pup.

Kakashi reached to scratch the top of Guruko's head absentmindedly, "I'm fine. I recovered in a couple weeks, but I have a feeling the same guys who poisoned me on my last mission were the same nin who attacked me in the village."

"In the village?" Pakkun asked, clearly stunned. The rest of the pack began to growl, the hackles on Shiba and Urushi's backs rising angrily.

Kakashi nodded, "Twice actually. Minato-sensei found out about a week ago."

Bull trudged forwards and laid protectively across Kakashi's bare feet, the massive dog pinning his appendages to the floor, "It's been a long time since a Leaf shinobi has targeted you," he grumbled thoughtfully, "I thought most of Sakumo's enemies had finished coming after you by now."

Kakashi rubbed at a headache beginning to form under his left temple, "I haven't ruled that out yet, but you're right. It seems unlikely."

"So what's your theory?" Pakkun asked.

Kakashi sighed, "I have a hunch, but I'm going to need evidence to prove it."

Pakkun's heavy-lidded eyes regarded him quizzically, "What do you need us to do?"

"I need you to rendezvous with Chizuru Nara."

Tenzo POV

Tenzo had started his shift only five minutes before he felt Kakashi's chakra spike.

He glanced at Yugao meaningfully and dove out of the treeline, sprinting up the side of the house and balancing carefully on the window frame.

The voices inside the room silenced for a moment, and for that one terrible moment, Tenzo readied himself to signal to Yugao. Before he could raise his hand to alert her, Kakashi's voice filtered through the glass, "It's just my dogs Cat. I'm fine."

Tenzo paused for a moment, then moved to open the window.

Kakashi sat hunched on the edge of his bed, eight ninja hounds scattered in front of him.

As he poked his head into the room, several of the dogs began to snarl, apparently not taking kindly to the off-putting uniform of the Anbu Black Ops.

"Just checking." He answered lightly, waving to the familiar little dog seated directly in front of his senpai. The pug nodded in return and Tenzo dropped down to the ground, walking thoughtfully back towards the treeline.

Yugao, who had taken up Tenzo's abandoned post in the bushes, now rose to pace beside him. Her masked face turned; dark, unblinking eye holes regarding him shrewdly.

"I take it Senpai is alright?" She asked, flipping a long lock of her plum-colored ponytail back over her shoulder.

"Yeah," Tenzo replied, "just the dogs."

Yugao nodded thoughtfully and jumped back to her perch in the nearest oak tree.

"What do you think he's got planned?" she muttered, just loud enough for Tenzo to hear.

"I'm not sure," He admitted, "My guess is he's still planning on taking the enemy on alone."

Tenzo could almost feel Yugao rolling her eyes as she spoke, "Well, of _course_ , he's not going to accept our help. That's been obvious from the start. But what's his next move?"

Tenzo shrugged, re-adjusting his weapons pouch as he returned to his position, "No idea, but something tells me we should put eyes on those dogs."

...

Minato POV

Minato had decided. He was going to talk to Kakashi about the mind transfer, and he was going to do it today.

The Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves stood outside his front door, trying to convince himself to go inside.

Going inside meant he couldn't put it off any longer. Going inside meant he would have to confront his student.

Minato sighed and rested his head against the door frame.

Kakashi could most likely sense him standing out here. Lingering on the doorstep was only going to make the young Hatake nervous, and arguing with him on edge would just make things worse.

With a deep breath, he opened the door and stepped inside.

The house was...spotless.

Minato ran a finger over a nearby shelf and examined the appendage. There wasn't a speck of dust.

"Kakashi?" The Yondaime slowly made his way across his home, noticing for the first time that Naruto's toys were actually inside the toy trunk.

Out of curiosity, he opened the fridge, revealing an immaculately clean and perfectly organized interior.

"Kakashi?"

Suddenly a little wooden bird flapped down in front of him; a message held tight in one delicately carven set of toes.

Minato bent to retrieve it, the bird immediately taking off out the kitchen window and re-attaching itself to the large oak tree outside.

The Yondaime unrolled the slip of paper,

 _Yondaime-sama,_  
 _Kakashi needed to leave the premises. Team Ro is tailing him._

Minato threw himself into one of the nearest kitchen chairs, allowing his head to fall back and his arms to dangle loosely at his sides.

Part of him was relieved, basking in the temporary comfort of stalling for just a little longer...and the fact disgusted him.

As far as he knew, his last student could be well on his way to following his father to an untimely death. How dare he be relieved that he didn't have to confront him? Minato groaned and sunk deeper into his chair.

"Hello? Kakashi? I'm back from...Why is it so clean in here?" Kushina stopped to inspect one of the living room bookcases, running a slender finger across the row of neatly arranged books.

"It seems like Kakashi's been busy."

"Minato!" Kushina whirled around, almost knocking over the nearby lamp in her haste, "When did you get home?"

"Just now," he answered, rising to come stand beside her, "I was hoping I could talk to Kakashi."

"Is he not home?" Kushina asked, dropping her bag onto the couch and slumping into the adjacent armchair.

"No...Kushina...I need to talk to you about something."

She looked up at him curiously, "Okay, shoot."

Minato took a deep breath and braced himself for her response, "I was talking to Inoichi a few days ago about the incident at Kakashi's apartment."

Kushina nodded, urging him to continue.

"No one from the Intel Division or the Yamanaka clan could pick up anything on these guys. Kakashi said that he hit one of them with raikiri. If that were the case, there would have been blood _everywhere_. No matter how well those shinobi could clean up after themselves, the Inozuka's dogs would have still been able to pick up a scent."

Kushina's eyes narrowed, "So...you think this was a genjutsu?"

Minato shook his head, frowning, "No. The Intelligence Division ruled that out in their investigation. The destruction would have been different if Kakashi had been fighting an illusion."

"So what was their conclusion?" Kushina asked, her voice dangerously low as the kunoichi leaned forward to rest her elbows on her knees.

"Inoichi thinks that the crime scene may have been set up."

"What do you mean _set up_?"  
Minato sat silently for a moment, pondering over his next words, "They think Kakashi may have...covered for a lapse in-"

"They think he tried to kill himself don't they?"

Minato sighed and sat down on the couch across from his wife.

"Those idiots," Kushina rambled on, anger growing in her deceptively soft voice, "Kakashi is the most paranoid person I have ever met. Have they _seen_ the defenses he has around his apartment? That genius student of yours may be a dangerous, pig-headed idiot, but-"

"Kushina," Minato cut her off, "Tenzo found Kakashi passed out in a pool of his own blood. There was no sign of forced entry, no incriminating evidence left behind, no trail and no chakra signature's present besides Kakashi's."

"So what? His enemy was skilled."

"Kushina, what Kakashi told us is physically impossible. There is no such thing as a living human being without a chakra signature. _Even if_ they had suppressed it, the sharingan would have picked up even the faintest flow of chakra."

"You think he lied to you?"

Minato rubbed the back of his neck, "I don't think so. If Kakashi wanted to lie to me, he'd have done a better job of it. There's something else going on."

There was a pause as the couple lingered in strained silence.

"Inoichi wants to do a mind transfer."

"You can't be serious." Kushina scoffed.

"It's the only way we can be sure. If Kakashi is experiencing a mental collapse, I need to know before he hurts himself again."

"You can't force him to undergo an interrogation like that!" She yelled rising to her feet, "That technique is only used on high-class rogue nin and the criminally insane!"

Minato sighed, "I'm not sure I have a choice. If someone is hiding in the village that can completely extinguish their chakra, I need to know, and if Kakashi is having a breakdown, he needs help."

Kushina snorted, "Kakashi has been having a breakdown since the day his father died! You of _all_ people should know Kakashi better than to think he would commit seppuku in his kitchen!"

"I'm not willing to take the chance that I'm wrong! Are you?" Minato shouted.

Kushina glared at him as if he had dumped a pile of rotting garbage on her front step,"If you force that boy to relive his worst memories in front of some _idiot_ from the Yamanaka clan, you better believe you'll have more than just a couple rogue nin to deal with." She finished, grabbing her bag and marching right back out the front door.

Kakashi POV

Kakashi hadn't lasted long stuck inside the Namikaze's, now exceptionally clean, little house. He needed air; consequences be damned.

Somehow, he had managed to drag his detail halfway around the hidden leaf on a jog that would leave your average jonin gasping for air.

Tenzo and Yugao had protested at first, but after about ten minutes of being completely ignored seemed to resign themselves to trailing behind their cabin-crazed charge.

Kakashi ran a hand through his sweat-dampened hair, slowing to a walk as he took the last step up to the Hokage monument. He stopped to catch his breath, basking in the early autumn breeze.

It felt good to get out of the house and back into open air.

He attempted to overlook the footsteps of his guards, no more than ten feet behind him at any given point in time.

They were following orders; he understood that. They were worried about his well-being; he understood that too, better than he was willing to admit. He knew what it was like to be protective of a comrade, and that was the problem.

He couldn't give them what they wanted. He couldn't sit back and play the victim, especially now that they had placed him in protective custody. His team had thrown themselves into the crossfire. If they didn't back off soon, and the enemy moved to strike, it would be on his head if someone died.

He understood their desire to shield him all too well. But he was selfish, and he wasn't worth their sacrifice. His thoughts trickled back to Rin.

...

 _"Stop following me, will you? I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."_

 _Kakashi shrugged and sat down beside her, plucking the tightly capped bottle of water out of her hand and twisting it open, "I know you can." He answered, returning the pilfered item before she could protest._

 _"Then stop coddling me!" She laughed, snatching the bottle from his hand and giving his head a playful shove._

 _..._

Kakashi moved to sit on the top of Minato's massive stone head; his knees pulled up to his chest.

"Kakashi?"

The silver-haired anbu turned to watch as Tenzo strode up beside him and sat down. Yugao remained at a distance, her eyes scanning for any possible threats.

"Hmm?"

"How long are you going to stay mad at us?"

Kakashi's eyebrows quirked in surprise, "Mad at you? I'm not mad at you."

For a moment, Tenzo seemed at a loss for words, Kakashi's response appearing to freeze him in his tracks, "You chucked a kunai at me! You've been shutting the blinds and ignoring us for a week! Hell, you won't even let any of us in the house!"

Kakashi shook his head, "I'm not mad at you. I'm used to having privacy, and I'm not going to give away what little I have left without good reason." He paused for a moment, trying to remember when he had thrown a weapon at his friend, "As for the kunai, it was a correction, nothing more. I've been on the field longer than you have. Little mistakes like that are what get shinobi killed."

Tenzo scoffed, "That was more than a correction senpai, and you know it."

Kakashi shrugged, "My anger wasn't directed at you."

Tenzo sighed and shook his head, "You know, you can seriously be an ass sometimes." He muttered, lying back with his arms crossed behind his neck. Kakashi smiled in silent agreement.

...

Minato POV

It was a little past noon when Kakashi finally arrived back at the Namikaze's house.

Minato's heart sprang into his throat, the moment he'd been preparing himself for coming faster than he'd anticipated.

He sat at the kitchen table, listening with trepidation as Kakashi removed his sandals and placed them by the door. The familiar sounds of his student returning home become a war drum slowly marching forwards.

"Kakashi?"Minato called, halting his student's advance towards the guest room.

The young Hatake stopped and backtracked to the open doorway, "Yes, Sensei?"

"I have something I'd like to discuss with you." Minato told him. Steeling himself for whatever came next, he gestured for Kakashi to take the empty seat across from him.

The anbu complied and wordlessly moved to sit in the little wooden chair, his typical slouch evaporating into stiff-backed military attention.

Minato sighed, so Kakashi knew something was up. He had been too transparent, "Listen Kakashi, so about that night at your apartment. You said your sharingan couldn't pick up a chakra signature?"

The anbu nodded, confusion beginning to play behind his uncovered grey eye.

Minato took a deep breath, "Kakashi, there's no such thing as a living breathing person that doesn't have at least a faint chakra signature."

"I know that." Kakashi intoned carefully.

"With the evidence that we have, the only logical explanations are that someone cast a very high-level genjutsu or that there was no one in your apartment that night."

Kakashi didn't respond.

"According to the intelligence division, from the state of your apartment, it seems very unlikely that you were fighting an illusion."

Still, Kakashi didn't respond, staring deadpan into Minato's searching blue eyes.

"Kakashi...is there...something you need to tell me?"

Realization dawned, the surprise that briefly lit his eyes quickly extinguished by a sudden and complete removal of any and all expression, "They think I tried to kill myself, don't they?"

"The evidence isn't stacking up. There were no bodies, no blood, especially if you hit a man with raikiri-"

"If I were going to fake a crime scene," He interjected, the edge of his voice becoming harder, "it would be far more believable than that."

"Kakashi, listen, I...believe that you thought you were telling the truth, but-"

"You think I went crazy."

"No! I think you might have been confused! You've had some difficult missions as of late, and no one in the Anbu or anywhere else would fault you for experiencing the repercussions of that."

Kakashi remained silent, his single eye regarding Minato sharply.

"Given the...location of the wound-"

Kakashi stood now, his hands clenched in his pockets, "I am not my father, Hokage-sama."

Minato inwardly recoiled at the use of his formal title, wishing he didn't have to finish what he was about to say, "I know you're not...but I need to be sure if this threat is real, and I also need to be confident in your safety. I won't make you do it, but Inoichi Yamanaka has suggested that we perform a mind transfer."

What little color Kakashi had, seemed to drain from his face,"Hai, Hokage-sama." He turned stiffly to exit the kitchen.

Minato rose quickly, "This isn't an order Kakashi; I won't force you to do this."

Kakashi stopped, turning to look over his shoulder, "Won't you?"

There was a long moment of stunned silence before Kakashi looked away.

Minato desperately tried to force himself to deny Kakashi's statement. But he couldn't. He was right. When it came down to the safety of his student and the security of the village, Minato wouldn't hesitate to do everything in his power to keep them safe. If Kakashi had denied, eventually Minato would have no choice but to force him.

"When?" Kakashi asked, his back still facing Minato.

The Yondaime paused, finally answering softly, "Inoichi is ready whenever we are."

"Then let's get this over with." He muttered, finishing his exit from the kitchen and stalking back to the front door to retrieve his sandals.

Minato took a deep breath and followed, ignoring the half of his brain that demanded he stop everything and pull his broken little student back into the arms of refuge. He was doing this for Kakashi. He was doing this for the village. And he hated himself for it.

...

Pakkun POV

Pakkun and Shibi padded down the dark halls of anbu headquarters, making their way to the medical unit's lab.

Shiba sniffed, his ears twitching back the way they had come.

Pakkun eyed his companion sharply, "Daichi is tailing us."

Shiba nodded and growled gently, "Kakashi's human pack is starting to grate on my nerves."

The little pug turned to glance over his shoulder. Daichi was invisible to the naked eye, blending seamlessly into the wall somewhere along the corridor behind them. However, a dogs nose was impervious to genjutsu. Daichi was smarter than this. He wanted them to know he was there.

Pakkun came to a decision and turned the next corner, "It's alright, let him follow."

Shiba snarled softly and glared at his alpha, "You're just going to let him follow? But-"

"She'll give us a written message. There will be nothing for the brat to overhear, even if he is sculking outside the door."

Shiba sneezed and shook himself, "I still don't like it."

Pakkun glanced back once more and snuffed in annoyance, Neither did he.

...

Kakashi POV

Inoichi's office was on the top floor of the Intelligence Division's headquarters.

As the young Hatake stepped through the door, he was greeted by the scent of dusty old books and well-used leather.

In any other circumstance, Kakashi would have found the room welcoming. A quiet, peacefully lonely place, full of books and long stretches of uninterrupted silence. Today it was a prison cell.

Inoichi walked around him, moving to grab a small wooden stool from behind a sturdy oak writing desk.

"Take a seat." The Yamanaka instructed, gesturing towards a thickly upholstered leather armchair, the seat beginning to crack from overuse.

Kakashi obeyed, his back ramrod straight. He knew how these things usually went. He had seen the restraints the Yamanaka's traditionally used for this jutsu. By moving the procedure out of the locked cells and into Inoichi's office, they were reminding him that this wasn't an interrogation; that he was among friends. It was an attempt to make him feel more comfortable. An attempt to assure him he was safe...it wasn't working.

Kakashi could feel the hairs on the back of his neck begin to rise as Inoichi moved to sit in front of him, the legs of his stool screeching softly against the hardwood floor.

 _'I'm a tool; tools don't feel.'_

"I'm going to place you under a genjutsu to start. It should help you relax and hopefully make the process a little easier."

Kakashi forced himself to remain seated, every fiber of his being arguing that he should stand up and fight his way out.

Minato took a step forward, and Kakashi shot him a warning look. Not now. He didn't need anyone to get any closer. Not when he was already this close to snapping.

Minato stopped, a pained understanding seeping into his worried expression.

"Are you ready to begin?" Inoichi asked quietly, his eyes all the while monitoring the anbu before him. Inoichi wasn't an idiot. This wasn't the first time he had worked with a member of the Anbu Black Ops. He was prepared for the explosion, should it come, and for that Kakashi was grateful.

 _'I'm a tool; tools don't feel.'_

Kakashi took a deep breath and nodded, allowing himself to lean back into the cushions, perfectly still except for the slight twitch of his tightening jaw.

"Alright then." Inoichi's long knobbly fingers flipped effortlessly through the hand signs.

...

Minato POV

Minato watched as Kakashi's eyes glazed over and he sunk heavily into the armchair.

The Yamanaka stopped, turning to look up at Minato, "I don't know how he is going to react to this."

Minato nodded, "I know."

"If he comes out swinging-"

"I'll stop him." Minato cut him off. He wanted to get this over with. No, what he _really_ wanted was to back out of this entirely, but that was something he couldn't do. He'd made up his mind. All he could do was pray that the results would not be disastrous.

Inoichi nodded and turned to Kakashi, placing one calloused hand on the young man's pale hair, "Psycho mind transmission jutsu."

...

Kakashi POV

He didn't remember Inoichi finishing his hand signs. One moment he was sitting in a beaten old armchair and the next he was floating. It was as if he were sinking, his body pressing deep into a velvety warmth around him. A stone plunging in slow motion to the bottom of the ocean.  
And then the feeling stopped. He was being dragged upwards, as if by a string connected to the crown of his head. For a moment it was bright. Almost unbearably so, and then…

...

 _"Hey, Kiddo."_  
 _"Tou-san!"_  
 _He ran forwards on short legs into the familiar arms of his father. The man hefted him up, the strength in his hand across his back, and the smell of his dusty, weather-beaten flack jacket like a thick blanket on a cold dark morning._

 _Kakashi wrapped his skinny arms around his father's neck, the prickle of silver stubble from a day without shaving biting into the soft skin under his arms. It had been weeks since he had last seen him. Weeks since he had felt like this._

 _Safe._

 _..._

Another tug. A flash of white light.

...

 _"ETERNAL RIVAL!"_

 _"Guy, what is it? I don't have time this morning."_

 _Guy's lanky teenage frame bent over to see what he was reading, "THERE IS ALWAYS TIME FOR TRAINING MY MOST GLORIOUS RIVAL."_

 _Kakashi hunched lower in his seat and turned another page, attempting to block out the enthusiasm of the obnoxiously loud, spandex wearing youth._

 _Guy sighed and came to sit silently beside him._

 _Kakashi pretended not to notice, forcing himself to direct his attention to the last sentence._

 _"Isolating yourself from your friends is not going to save them."_

 _Kakashi stood to leave. Guy rose to follow._

 _Ignoring him, Kakashi trudged slowly down the dirt road._

 _Guy strode along beside him, the two meandering towards the memorial stone in companionable silence._

 _..._

TUG. FLASH.

...

 _Back in time. Short legs and chubby fingers soaked in blood. Rain poured down the windows outside, the occasional flicker of lightning illuminating the prone figure before him._

 _He was so still. So white. A stark contrast to the deep red that had soaked into the tatami mat. The same red that was slowly creeping into his shoes-_

 _..._

He resisted, attempting to disentangle himself from the invisible string that dragged him forward.

TUG. FLASH.

...

 _Rin rushed forward and hugged him, her arms locked around his pale neck._

 _"If Obito were here right now I'd have to stop him from strangling you!"_

 _"I'm alright Rin, really-"_

 _"Don't give me that! I'm a medic-nin for crying out loud! You almost died-"_

 _"I'm not going to die."_

 _"Is that really a promise you're willing to make?"_

 _Rin's hold tightened around him, locking him in her arms._

 _He didn't answer. Instead, his arms seemed to rise on their own accord, returning her embrace for the first time since their friendship had formed._

 _She was right. He couldn't make that promise._

 _..._

He struggled harder now, nearly succeeding in drawing himself back into the blackness.

He could feel the presence scrambling to regain its hold, desperately attempting to strengthen its connection. He lashed out at it, nearly severing the link altogether.

Suddenly his consciousness stilled, his whole body seeming to relax on its own accord. The presence regained its hold with new force, ripping him back up into the light.

TUG. FLASH.

...

 _Kakashi slipped silently through the empty forest. Massive trees loomed watchfully like ancient sentries, casting heavy shadows in the deepening night._ _The porcelain of his Anbu mask glowed in the occasional patch of moonlight, crimson designs turning a ghostly shade of maroon in the growing darkness._

 _It had been a long and grueling mission, even by Kakashi's low standards. Due to miss information, he had infiltrated the wrong outpost and had to scour three more to find the scroll in question._

 _When he had finally acquired his target, he retreated from the hidden stone to rendezvous with a member of the Leaf's Intelligence division at Tenchi bridge._ _His contact hadn't shown, and Kakashi wasn't about to wait._ _He knew it was sensitive material, not something to be kept lingering in one place too long._

 _He had no choice; he was running straight for Konoha. Someone had found him out, and he certainly wasn't about to wait around to greet them._

 _..._

TUG. FLASH.

...

 _Same mission. Kakashi sat huddled in the bushes passing a needle back and forth across the slit that marred his left thigh._

 _As far as he could tell it was a clean cut, nothing more than an irritation so long as it was treated properly._

 _He could almost hear Rin's snort of disbelief as he wrapped a bandage around the newly stitched skin._

'If you run on that it's only going to re-open.'

 _He shook the voice out of his head and stood._ _He had a mission to complete._

 _..._

TUG. FLASH.

...

 _"Who's there? Show yourself!"_

 _The air shifted behind him. Kakashi ducked as a man's arm swept over his head, Kunai hissing as it cut through empty space._

 _Kakashi rolled forwards, spinning to find the clearing empty._ _The wind blew eerily across the weapon spattered ground, an electric sort of calm settling over the landscape._

 _Footsteps pattered behind him. Turning, he spotted the shadow of a dark figure slipping into the tree line. A twig snapped as another shinobi leapt into the forest, melting into the underbrush._

 _Kakashi lifted his hitiate, using the sharingan to scan for chakra signatures._

 _Nothing. Nothing but the empty forest and swaying trees twitching their leaves in anticipation._

 _To be able to conceal one's chakra took an incredible amount of skill._

 _But this...there should still be something. Even an S class ninja would be visible at this close of range._

 _He felt rather than heard the man run up behind him. His left leg betraying him as he attempted to spin and slice through his attacker's neck._

 _..._

TUG. FLASH.

...

 _Obito was dying. What little left visible of his crushed body staring glassily up at Kakashi's straining arms._

 _"Stop…its alright Kakashi."_

 _Kakashi ignored him, desperately attempting to force chakra into his hands, struggling in vain to lift the massive boulder._

 _"My right side is completely crushed. I can't even feel it anymore."_

 _Blood trickled over the corner of his lip and dribbled down his chin._

 _"I'm not going to make it."_

 _..._

 _'NO'_

Kakashi reeled back into the darkness, pulling himself away from the pressure drawing him in.

He was not going to relive that again, not with someone peering over his shoulder.

With a considerable effort, he dragged himself away from the light threatening to expose him.

'Kakashi! Calm down it's me!' Inoichi's voice echoed through his head; the tug on his mind growing more persistent. Kakashi thrashed desperately against it, attempting to gain hold of something, anything, to keep himself in the empty black void.

The tug paused for a moment and jerked hard. He was being pulled again.

White light enveloped him.

...

 _Pakkun lay across his lap under the shade of a large oak tree. The rest of the pack flopped down beside him, their warm bodies pressed against his outstretched legs._

 _He turned another page of his book and sighed, absentmindedly scratching behind Uhei's ear. The dog leaned contentedly into his hand, readjusting so his chin rested on Kakashi's thigh._

 _It was his turn to be the hunted in this weeks tracking simulation. His anbu squad had been searching for him for the past eight hours._

 _He smirked under his mask. His team hadn't been able to locate him, despite the relatively mid-level genjutsu he'd performed. No one had expected him to hide in Daichi's backyard._

 _Daichi, the tracking specialist of the team, had never once thought to look right under his nose._

 _..._

TUG. FLASH.

...

 _He was back in his apartment._

 _The room was too quiet._

 _Something about the air felt…constrictive. As if an invisible force was stretching it taught, ready to snap at a moments notice._

 _Kakashi's chakra flared, rushing through the room in search of intruders._

 _…There was nothing._

 _His fingers rose to his headband, beginning to lift the fabric from Obito's concealed eye._

 _Something in the corner of the room glittered, Kakashi ducking just in time to miss the kunai aimed for his hand._

 _The door behind him slammed shut, muscular arms reaching to wrap around his neck from behind._

 _Kakashi kicked back, rolling out from under the mans grasp and into the middle of the room._

 _Two men loomed in front of him, dark robes shielding their features from view. Their faces were obscured in shadow, resulting in the illusion of the shinobi being headless. Darkness itself seeming to peer from under the thick folds of cloth._

 _Kakashi's eye drank them in, gathering nothing. Their cloaks were like a wall, obscuring their movements, muffling their stances. He raised a hand to his left eye once more; the action stopped by an arm reaching from behind, thick fingers closing around his wrist._

 _On reflex, he twisted, jamming his shoulder into the man's stomach as he ducked and launched him over his back. The man flew into the sofa with a crash, tipping the piece of furniture over as it broke his fall._

 _..._

There was one final tug, but this time, darkness swallowed him. He couldn't move, couldn't think. He was suspended in warm nothing, and he welcomed it, allowing himself to sink further into oblivion.

...

Minato POV

Inoichi sat back and wiped the sweat from his face, turning to check Kakashi's vitals. Sweat had soaked through the young man's shirt, his breath coming steadily but heavily through the skin tight fabric that obscured his face.

"Alright, we're finished." Inoichi announced, grabbing a blanket he had folded by the chair and throwing it over his subject to keep him from becoming chilled in his damp clothes.

"Did you get what you needed?" Minato asked stiffly, his eyes never leaving the unconscious face of his student.

"It took me a while to sort through his memories." Inoichi admitted, "This jutsu is not very precise, memories tend to jump around randomly, especially when the subject isn't fully sedated. At one point I had to increase the level of the genjutsu to calm him down, But yes. I found what we were looking for."

"And?"

"As far as I can tell he's telling the truth. There were shinobi in his apartment that night, as well as by the memorial stone. However, that raises a new question."

"Which is?"

"What kind of shinobi can produce no chakra signature whatsoever and still be living?"

Both men turned to the unconscious anbu captain, his chest still rising and falling rapidly under the heavy knit blanket.

"I wouldn't move him until he wakes up." Inoichi answered before Minato could ask, "Sometimes people wake up in a panic. It's best to let him come out of it here, rather than in your home."

Minato nodded and leaned wearily on Inoichi's desk.

"Does it usually take that long?" Minato murmured, noticing for the first time that his feet were starting to ache from the constant pacing.

Kakashi and Inoichi had sat like living statues for three hours, leaving Minato to do nothing but worry away his time until they had finished.

Inoichi had snapped at him on several occasions throughout the procedure, noting that the Yondaime's fidgeting was interfering with his focus. It seemed, however, that Minato's bad habit could not be contained and after the fourth time Inoichi attempted to quiet his anxious leader, he had resigned himself to block out the man's troubled footsteps.

Inoichi glanced up at the clock, "No, not for something so recent. I would have guessed it to be closer to an hour." He looked back down at Kakashi, "It's hard enough to pinpoint memories even in a completely restrained consciousness. He fought me nearly the entire time."

Minato sighed and nodded.

"The mind transfer can eat up a significant amount of chakra." Inoichi explained, "You can take him home after he wakes up but he'll most likely end up sleeping for the rest of the day."

Minato nodded and leaned forward to rest his hands on his knees, "I'll stay with him until he wakes up. If you could send one of your subordinates to grab some paperwork from my office-"

"Way ahead of you." Inoichi walked around his desk and handed Minato a large stack of papers.

"Thanks" He grinned tiredly. He seemed to be doing far more work outside of the office than inside these days.

...

It had been a few hours since Inoichi had left Minato to watch over his unconscious charge. Kakashi's breathing had finally settled, and he rested in what seemed to Minato, relative peace.

After nearly an hour and a half, he'd begun to shift in his sleep, his eyebrows pulling together as his consciousness gradually returned.

Minato scribbled some final notes down on a blank sheet of paper and turned his full attention back to his student.

Kakashi's one visible eye slowly began to open, taking in his surroundings with a blankness that reminded Minato strangely of a black and white photograph.

He pushed himself up into a sitting position and glanced impassively up at his sensei, the lack of concern in his tired eye almost more disturbing than if he had blown up.

"Hey, welcome back."

Kakashi blinked and reached up to straighten his mask, "Did you get what you needed?" The anbu's voice was like a tomb, cold wind blowing up from an empty pit. There was nothing in it, the words falling dead from his mouth.

Minato nodded, "Yes. I'm sorry, I just needed to be sure."

Kakashi shrugged, "You're the Yondaime. The village comes first."

He pushed himself up to stand and almost immediately began to crumple to the floor. Minato was beside him in an instant, linking one shaky elbow over his shoulders.

"Come on, let's get you home."

...

Minato unlocked the front door, and half carried Kakashi into the house, the anbu's shaky legs walking, but supporting almost none of his weight.

"Ka-Kakashi! Minato! What? What happened?" Kushina scrambled out of the kitchen as Minato shuffled Kakashi past her.

"In a minute." Minato told her, nudging open the door to the guest room with his foot and moving to set Kakashi down on the bed.

He gave the young man's shoulder a gentle shake and whispered, "Kakashi?"

Kakashi's head had sagged to his chest, thick silver hair flopping over the unmasked portion of his face. His arms laid loosely in his lap, hands dangling limply over the edge of the mattress. With a mild shock of surprise, Minato reached to steady the young Hatake as he, seemingly in slow motion, began to sag heavily to the side.

Kakashi had already fallen asleep.

Minato lowered him to the bed and pulled the blankets over his shoulders. It was as if he were looking back in time. The first night Kakashi spent without his father, he had stayed with Minato. The yellow flash grimaced as he remembered it, pulling the blanket over his tiny student's shoulders; The exhausted six-year-old finally succumbing to his body's desperate call for sleep.

Sometimes it was as if he had never aged. As if he were still that broken little boy desperately trying to live his life by the rules that killed his father.

Minato sighed and pulled off Kakashi's headband, lying it with a soft clink on the nearby bedside table.

Silently, he attempted to justify the decision he had made, struggling to remind himself that he'd done the right thing for the village.

He pulled the blankets a little higher around the anbu's shoulders.

As Hokage of the Hidden Leaf, it was his duty to protect his citizens, to make the safety of the village his first priority. However...It was hard to believe himself as he looked down at the unconscious form of his student buried beneath the comforter. He wasn't sure what the ramifications of his latest sacrifice would be. He had already lost Rin and Obito. He didn't think he could bear to lose Kakashi as well.

With a final glance back, the Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves switched off the light and left the room, closing the door softly behind him.

...

Kushina POV

Kushina stood hesitantly in the kitchen doorway, watching as Minato gently pulled the door to the guest bedroom shut.

"What happened?" Kushina demanded, glancing down the hall to check if Naruto had noticed the commotion.

"Inoichi did the mind transfer-"

"He did _what_?" she hissed, fists beginning to tremble at her sides, "You made him-"

"I didn't make him do anything Kushina, he agreed." he snapped, moving past her and grabbing a glass from a nearby cupboard.

Kushina shook her head in disgust, "A formal request from a Kage is essentially an order, Minato."

In a lapse of control, Minato slapped one hand to his side in exasperation, "What did you want me to do Kushina? I had to be certain he was telling the truth."

"Since when have you needed to _read your student's mind_ to trust him?" She barked, fighting the urge to throw something at him.

"Since he started hiding injuries, failing to report attacks and excepting suicide missions like they were candy! Do you really want to take his word for it and find him dead tomorrow?"

Kushina's face reddened to match her flaming hair, "Kakashi wouldn't lie to us about something this serious Minato! After all these years you should know that!"

"I do!" Minato fumed, slamming his cup down on the counter and throwing his hands up, "But what he was telling us was impossible! Literally, impossible! Until Inoichi did the mind transfer today, there was nothing that could prove Kakashi's claims! The men he saw have absolutely no chakra signature! Even the Inozuka's dogs couldn't track them! That's like standing up in front of Konoha and declaring that the zombie apocalypse has begun! Half of my advisors told me to check him into the Anbu's psych ward!"

"And you believed them?" Kushina growled back, incredulity lacing each furious word.

"I didn't know what to believe! You didn't see him after it happened! It was a _gut_ wound Kushina! It was nearly identical to Sakumo's! If it had been any deeper, it would have killed him before Cat could find him!"

"After everything Kakashi has been through do you honestly think he would ever replicate his father's death!" Kushina raged, untying her apron and throwing it onto the kitchen table.

Minato's voice sank back down to its regular volume as he rubbed a couple of fingers into his temple, "No I just..." He scrubbed a hand through his hair in frustration, "If something were to..." He stopped, mind searching for the right words.

Kushina took a few deep breaths and faced him, "I'm scared for him too." She pulled out one of the kitchen chairs and sat down tiredly, "So, they really had no chakra signature?"

Minato nodded and looked out the window into the backyard. The setting sun made his golden hair glow orange in the warm evening light, "It's like Kakashi said. None of them possessed a chakra signature. It was as if they were dead."

...

Kakashi POV

Kakashi woke to the sensation of a tongue lapping across the side of his face, followed by the distinct and invasive smell of hot dog breath filling his nose. The anbu cringed and turned his head away, a small groan of protest cracking through his dry lips.

"Pup?"

"Hmm?" Kakashi opened his eye and brushed the dog off. Halfheartedly, he reached to wipe the drool from his cheek, thankful that his summons had refrained from dampening his mask, "Pakkun?"

"You alright pup?"

Kakashi turned his head wearily to study the wrinkly little dog standing on his bed. The shadows seemed to bend strangely around the rolls that sat over his nose, making his face appear unnaturally smooth in the moonlight.

"Pup?"

Kakashi sighed, forcing himself back into reality, "Your mission?"

Uhei hopped onto the bed and curled up against his side, the bandaged greyhound laying his head gently on his master's stomach.

"We made contact with the Nara women. She gave us this." Pakkun nudged the scroll that he had dropped on the bed, staring expectantly down into his summoner's half-open right eye.

Kakashi picked it up, his sleep laden fingers clumsily unrolling the long sheet of parchment. His eyes scanned over the sloppy penmanship...

 _The sample that you presented me is a rare form of a poison derived from a plant called spreading yew. The toxin is extracted and amplified through a chakra enhancement that..._

Kakashi stopped reading and handed the scroll back to Pakkun, "Your new mission is to destroy this document." He said quietly, "I don't want it to be read by anyone else."

Pakkun nodded and tossed it to Bull who began to gnaw on it as he would a bone. The massive dog's teeth and drool quickly reduced the parchment to nothing but a few specks of soggy paper clumps.

 _'So I was right.'_ Kakashi thought. The poisons were identical. The shinobi that had attacked him in his apartment and at the memorial stone were the same shinobi that had tracked him on his last assignment. Somehow the two events were connected. The question now was how.

Kakashi closed his eye, trying to separate his mind from the day's events; Struggling to pull away from the memories he'd been forced to relive. He wanted to hide from it. From Inoichi's eyes peeking over his shoulder. His father's blood soaking into the study floor. Obito lying crushed beneath a massive boulder.

 _'I'm a tool; tools don't feel.'_

He took another breath and let it out slowly, allowing his muscles to relax as he buried his weakness deep in the recesses of his exhausted mind.

"You look terrible." Pakkun commented, hopping up to curl into the crook of Kakashi's left arm.

"Thanks."

"Are you going to tell us what happened?"

Kakashi thought about it for a long moment, finally answering tiredly, "No."

The pack exchanged worried looks, silently agreeing not to push the matter any further. Instead, the remaining six dogs, except for Bull who wouldn't fit, climbed onto the bed and formed a protective wall around their pup.

Kakashi sighed as a fragment of his stress seemed to melt away, replaced by the slow rhythmic breaths of the dogs that encircled him.

Just as Kakashi was about to fall asleep, he heard the door open. Small tottery footsteps pattered up beside him, little fingers tugging gently on his hand.

"Kashi-nii?" Kakashi grunted and cracked his eye open once more, taking in the shadowy form of his sensei's son.

"Naruto?" His voice crackled from sleep, "What is it?"

"I had a nightmare."

"Why don't you go wake up your otou-san?" Kakashi asked, his eye slipping closed on its own accord.

He could feel the shake of Naruto's head through the tight hold the boy had on his fingers, "Can I stay with you?"

Kakashi sighed and waved the boy up, too tired to fight and unwilling to physically take him back to his room.

Naruto giggled and clamored over a few of the dogs. His bright orange pajama bottoms caught on Bisuke's nose, forcing the dog to wiggle his body into an awkward position to avoid having his snout pulled up to his forehead.

He crawled over Kakashi and wriggled under the covers, nestling himself in between the crook of the anbu's right arm, and Urushi who turned to rest his head on the four-year-old's back.

Kakashi shifted to look at Pakkun as the boy rested his head on his shoulder, stretching so one arm sprawled across the Hatake's chest.

"If I have a...bad night..." Kakashi started, looking meaningfully at the pug curled beside his pillow.

Pakkun turned to meet his gaze, "If you have a nightmare we'll protect the boy."

Kakashi nodded gratefully and closed his eye. Sleep hungrily rushed up to swallow him.

...

Kushina POV

Kushina yawned as she shuffled down the narrow hallway towards her son's bedroom. She had let Minato tuck him in that night, taking the chance to catch up on some overdue reports she hadn't finished the week before. She knew it was silly, but she felt the need to check on him. Somehow it was impossible to sleep until she had seen her son tucked safely into bed.

She poked her head into the dimly lit room, a frog-shaped nightlight casting strange shadows along the bottom edge of the furnishings.

"Naruto?"

His bed was empty, the covers thrown sloppily back over the unoccupied mattress.

Kushina straitened with surprise and turned to look back down the hall.

He hadn't come to wake Minato or herself, and there were no telltale banging noises coming from the kitchen.

A part of Kushina encouraged her to panic, urging her to run screaming for her husband and demand that he send the entirety of the Leaf's military forces to search for her precious baby boy. Taking a deep breath, she tip-toed down the hall, suppressing her motherly instincts back down to a reasonable level.

She cracked the door to the guest bedroom and poked her head inside, opening her mouth with the intention to ask if Kakashi had seen her son.

As it so happened, she needn't ask. Surrounded by a massive dog pile, Naruto lay snuggled against Kakashi's side, half of him sprawled unceremoniously across the anbu's midsection.

Careful not to wake them, Kushina eased her head back into the hall and closed the door softly behind her.

The wheels of her mind had begun to spin. Naruto was good for Kakashi, she thought. Especially after the past few weeks. Kakashi needed some light in his life. He needed to be reminded there was more to the world than death and darkness. Naruto was just the man for the job.


End file.
